Division  3>S  2-7  "^-^ 


Section    .    I 


k 


THE 

PRACTICAL    COMMENTARY 

on    tKe 

Nov   Testament 

Edited  bx 

W.     Robertson    Nicoll 
M.A..  LL.D. 


The 

PRACTICAL 

COMMENTARY 
On  the  New  Testament 

Edited  by 

W.ROBERTSON  NICOLL,  LL.D.,  D.D. 

Editor  of  "The  Expoiitor's  .Bible" 


Volume      I.  Colossians  and  Thessalonians. 


Volume    II.  Ephesians, 
Volume  III.  Peter, 
Volume  IV.  Revelation, 

Others  to  he  announced. 


Joseph  Parker,  D.D. 
Joseph  Parker,  D.D. 
J.  H.  Jovvett 
C  Anderson  Scott 


These  volumes  are  the  first  to  be  announced  of  a 
great  new  undertaking  similar  to  the  universally 
known  Expositor's  Bible.  It  will  be  under  the  direc- 
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son Nicoll,  editor  of  the  British  Weekly,  and  its 
volumes  will  be  the  work  of  the  foremost  living  theo- 
logians. Thoroughly  alive  to  the  necessity  of  taking 
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offers,  this  commentary  will  at  the  same  time  retain 
a  healthy  conservatism  of  judgment,  and  its  field  of 
usefulness  will  therefore  be  as  large  as  its  great  fore- 
runner, "  The  Expositor's  Bible." 

Every  volume  of  this  set  will  be  printed  on  spe- 
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Price  per  volume,  ?i.25,  Net 


THE  EPISTLES 
OF   ST.  PETER 


9/the  Rev. 
J.  H.^JO\VETT,  MA. 

Author  of  "Apostolic  Optimism,"  etc. 


NEW  YORK 
A.  C.  ARMSTRONG   &  SON 

3  &  5  West  18th  Street,  near  5th  Avenue 
1906 


CONTENTS 

THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

CHAP.         VEKSK  PAGE 

I.     3-5.       The  Possibilities  and   Dynamics    of 

THE    EeuENERATE    LiFE       ,  ,  ,  1 

I.     6, 7.       Sorrowful,  yet  always  Rejoicing     .       11 

I.     8, 9.      A    Twofold    Relationship    and    its 

FiuiTs 24 

I.  13-16.     Being  Fashioned        ....      34 

I.  17-21.    The  Holiness  of  the  Father   .        .      45 

I.  22-25.     The     Creation      of     Culture     and 

Affection 56 

II.     1-10.     The  Living  Stones  and  the  Spiritual 

House 67 

II.  11-17.     The  ^Tixistry  of  Seemly  Behaviour       78 

V 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAP.  VEESK  PAGE 

II.  21-25.  The  Sufferings  of  Christ         •        •      90 

III.  1-8.  Wives  and  Husbands         •        .        •    102 

III.  8.  "  Be  Pitiful  "("  Tenderhearted  ")    .     lU 

III.  8-15.  Christ  sanctified  as  Lord        .        ,126 

III.  18-22.  Bringing  us  to  God  ....     138 

IV.  1-6.  The  Suffering  which  means  Triumph  150 
IV.  7-11.  Getting  Keady  for  the  End  .  .161 
IV.  12-19.  The  Fiery  Trial         .        .        .        .173 

V.  1-7.  Tending  the  Flock    ....     181 

V.  8-10.  Through  Antagonisms  to  Perfeotness     193 


CONTENTS  vii 

THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

CHAP.        VERSE  p^Cj, 

I.     1,2.  Liberty!   Equality!   Fraternity!       .  205 

I.     1-4.  The  Christian's  Resources        .        .213 

I.     5-9.  Diligence  in  the  Spirit    .        .        ^    227 

L  12-15.  The  Sanctification  of  the  Memory.     237 

I.  16-18.  The  Transfigured  Jesus   .        ,        ,     249 

I.  19-21.  The  Mystery  op  the  Prophet  .         .     263 

n.     1.  Destructive  Heresies         .        ,        .279 

II.  20, 21.  Worse  than  the  First      .        .        .296 

III.  3,4,8^.  The  Leisureliness  of  God         ,        .     307 

III.  10-14.  Preparing  for  the  Judgment    .        .     321 

III.  18.  Growing  in  Grace     ....     334 


THE  POSSIBILITIES  AND  DYNAMICS  OF 

THE  REGENERATE  LIFE 

1  Peter  i.  3-5 

Blessed  he  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christy 
who  according  to  His  great  mercy  begat  us  again  unto  a 
living  hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesv^  Christ  from  the 
dead,  unto  an  inheHtance  inco^'rujdible,  and  imd( filed,  and 
that  fadtth  wA  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  you^  who  by 
the  power  of  God  are  gicarded  through  faith  unto  a  salvation 
ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time. 

How  easily  these  early  disciples  break  into 
doxology !  Whenever  some  winding  in  the 
way  of  their  thought  brings  the  grace  of 
God  into  view,  the  song  leaps  to  their  lips.  The 
glory  of  grace  strikes  the  chords  of  their  hearts 
into  music,  and  life  resounds  with  exuberant 
praise.  It  is  a  stimulating  research  to  study  the 
birthplaces  of  doxologies  in  the  apostolic  writ- 
ings. Sometimes  the  march  of  an  argument  is 
stayed  while  the  doxology  is  sung.  Sometimes 
the  Te  Deum  is  heard  in  the  midst  of  a  pro- 
cession of  moral  maxims.  The  environment  of 
the  doxology  varies,  but  the  operative  cause 
which  gives  it  birth  is  ever  the  same.     From 

1 


2      THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

the  height  of  some  ascending  argument,  or 
through  the  lens  of  some  ethical  maxim,  the 
soul  catches  a  glimpse  of  the  "  riches  of  His 
grace,"  and  the  wonderful  vision  moves  it  to 
inevitable  and  immediate  praise.  I  am  not  sur- 
prised, therefore,  to  find  the  doxology  forming 
the  accompaniment  of  a  passage  which  con- 
templates the  glory  and  the  privileges  of  the 
re-created  life.  It  is  a  Te  Deum  sung  during 
the  unveiling  of  the  splendours  of  redeeming 
grace.  Let  us  burn  our  eyes  to  the  vision 
which  has  aroused  the  grateful  song. 
Verse  3  "  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  .  .  .  who  begat 
us  againJ^  "  Begat  again."  That  is  one  of  the 
unique  phrases  of  the  Christian  vocabulary.  It 
is  not  to  be  found  in  systems  of  thought  which 
are  alien  from  the  Christian  religion.  It  is  not  to 
be  found  in  the  vocabulary  of  any  of  the  modern 
schools  which  are  severed  from  the  facts  and 
forces  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  emphasis 
of  their  teaching  gathers  round  about  terms 
of  quite  a  different  order,  such  as  culture, 
training,  discipline,  education,  evolution.  The 
Christian  religion  has  also  much  to  say  about 
the  process  of  evolution.  It  dwells  at  length 
upon  the  ministries  of  "  growth,"  "  training," 
"increasing,"  "putting  on,"  "perfecting."  But 
while  it  emphasises  "  growth,"  it  directs  our 
attention  to  "  birth."      While  it  magnifies  the 


CHAPTER  I.   3-5  3 

necessity  of  wise  culture,  it  proclaims  the 
necessity  of  good  seed.  So  while  the  Bible 
lags  behind  no  school  in  urging  the  importance 
of  liberal  culture,  it  stands  alone  in  proclaiming 
the  necessity  of  right  germs.  You  cannot  by 
culture  develop  the  thorn-bush  into  a  ladened 
vine.  You  cannot  by  the  most  exquisite  dis- 
cipline evolve  "  the  natural  man "  into  the 
"  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of 
Christ."  If  we  had  merely  to  do  with  per- 
verted growths,  then  the  trainer  and  pruner 
might  twist  the  crooked  straight.  But  we  are 
confronted  with  more  than  perverted  growths; 
we  have  to  do  with  corrupt  and  rotting  seed. 
If  all  we  needed  was  the  the  purification  of 
our  conditions,  then  the  City  Health  Department 
might  lead  us  into  holiness.  But  we  need  more 
than  the  enrichment  of  the  soil ;  we  need  the 
revitalising  of  the  seed.  And  so  the  Christian 
religion  raises  the  previous  question.  It  begins 
its  ministry  at  a  stage  prior  to  the  process  of 
evolution.  It  discourses  on  births  and  genera- 
tion, on  seeds  and  germs,  and  proclaims  as  its 
primary  postulate,  "  ExcejDt  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God." 

Now,  man  is  not  enamoured  of  that  dogmatic 
postulate.  It  smites  his  pride  in  the  forehead. 
It  lays  himself  and  his   counsels   in   the   dust. 


4      THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

It  expresses  itself  in  an  alien  speech.     Men  are 
familiar  with   the   word  ''  educate "  ;   the  alien 
word  is  "  regenerate."    Political  controversy  has 
familiarised  them  with  the  word  ''reform"  ;  the 
alien  word  is  "  transfigure."     They  have  made 
a   commonplace  of  the  word  "  organise "  ;   the 
alien   word    is    "  vitalise."      They    have    made 
almost  a  fetish  of  the  phrase  "  moral  growth  "  ; 
the   alien   word   is   "  new  birth."      And   so  we 
do  not  like  the  strange  and  humbling  postulate ; 
but  whether  we   like   it   or  not,   the   heart   of 
every   man    bears    witness    to    the    truth    and 
necessity  of   its  imperative  demand.     Man   be- 
comes incredulous  of  the  necessity  of  the  new 
birth  when  he  surveys  the  lives  of  others,  but 
not  when  he  contemplates  his  own.     "We  gaze 
upon  the  conduct  and  behaviour  of  some  man 
who  is  dissociated  from  the  Christian  Church, 
or  who  indeed  is  hostile   or  indilTerent  to   the 
Christian  faith.     We  mark  the  integrity  of  his 
walk,    the    seemliness    of     his    behaviour,    the 
purity  of  all  his  relationships,  the  evident  lofti- 
ness  of   his   ideals,    and   we    then   project    the 
sceptical   inquiry,   Does   this   man   need  to    be 
begotten  again  ?      I  do  not    accept    one   man's 
judgment  as  to  the  necessity  of  another  man's 
regeneration.     I  wish  to  hear  a  man's  judgment 
concerning  himself.      I   would   like    a    man    to 
be  brought  face  to  face  with  the  life  of  Jesus, 


CHAPTER  1.  3-^  B 

witH  all  its  searching  and  piercing  demands, 
and  with  all  its  marvellous  ideals,  so  marvellously 
attained,  and  I  would  like  the  man's  own  judg- 
ment as  to  what  would  be  required  before  he 
himself,  in  the  most  secret  parts  of  his  life,  is 
clothed  in  the  same  superlative  glory.  I  think 
it  is  impossible  to  meet  with  a  single  uncon- 
verted man  who  does  not  know  that,  if  ever 
he  is  to  wear  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
to  be  chaste  and  illumined  in  his  most  hidden 
thoughts  and  dispositions,  there  will  have  to 
take  place  some  marvellous  and  inconceivable 
transformation.  Let  any  man  gaze  long  on 
''the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,"  and  then 
let  him  slowly  and  deliberately  take  the  in- 
ventory of  his  own  life,  and  I  am  persuaded  he 
will  come  to  regard  the  vaunted  panaceas  of 
the  world  as  altogether  secondary,  he  will  rele- 
gate its  vocabulary  to  the  secondary,  and  he 
will  welcome  as  the  only  pertinent  and  adequate 
speech,  "  Ye  must  be  born  again." 

Into  what  manner  of  life  are  we  begotten 
again  ?  What  is  the  range  of  its  possibilities, 
and  the  spaciousness  of  its  prospects  ?  The 
apostolic  doxology  winds  its  way  among  a 
wealth  of  unveiled  glories. 

"  Blessed  be  the  God  .  .  .  who  begat  us   again  Verse  3 
tinto  a  living  hope^     It  is   a   hope  afHuent   in 
life.     It  is  a  vivifying  hope.     There  are  hopes 


6       THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

that  are  inoperative,  ineffective,  uninfluential. 
They  generate  no  energy.  They  impart  no 
power  to  work  the  mill.  But  the  spiritual  hope 
of  the  redeemed  is  living  and  life-creating,  ope- 
rating as  a  vital  stimulus  upon  the  consecrated 
race.  How  the  Bible  exults  in  the  use  of  this 
great  characteristic  word  :  "  Living  Bread !  " 
"  Living  Water ! "  "  Living  Fountains  !  "  "  The 
Living  God ! "  The  word  conveys  the  suggestion 
of  superabundant  life,  exuberant  energy,  an  over- 
flowing vitaHty.  It  quickens  the  sentiments.  "  "We 
rejoice  in  hope."  The  dispositions  dance  in  the 
radiant  light !  It  vitalises  the  thought.  The  mind 
which  is  inspired  by  the  glorious  expectation  is 
grandly  secure  against  the  encroachment  of  the 
evil  one.  Hope-inspired  thought  is  its  own  de- 
fence. It  energises  the  ivill.  The  great  hope  feeds 
the  will,  vivifies  it,  makes  it  steadfast  and  un- 
movable.  Into  all  this  powerful  hope  are  we 
begotten  again  by  the  abundant  mercy  of  God. 
Verse  4  "  Begat  us  again  .  .  .  u7ito  an  inheritance  J  ^ 
With  our  regeneration  we  become  heirs  to  a 
glorious  spiritual  estate,  with  all  its  inexhaust- 
ible possessions  and  treasures.  How  the  apostles 
roll  out  the  New  Testament  music  by  ringing 
the  changes  upon  this  eagerly  welcomed  word ! 
*'  Heirs  of  salvation !  "  "  Heirs  of  the  king- 
dom !  "  *'  Heirs  together  of  the  grace  of  life  !  " 
"  Heirs  according  to  the  hope  of  eternal  life !  " 


CHAPTER   I.   3-5  7 

The  apostles  survey  their  estate  from  different 
angles,  that  they  may  comprehend  the  wealth 
of  the  vast  inheritance.  With  what  fruitful 
words  does  the  Apostle  Peter  characterise  the 
nature  of  these  possessions !  It  is  an  inherit- 
ance "incorruptible."  It  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  death.  No  grave  is  ever  dug  on  this  estate. 
It  is  an  inheritance  "  undefiled."  It  is  beyond 
the  taint  of  sin.  No  contamination  ever  stains 
its  driven  snow.  The  robes  of  the  glorified  are 
whiter  than  snow.  It  is  an  inheritance  "that 
fadeth  not  away."  It  is  beyond  the  blight  of 
change.  The  leaf  never  turns.  "  Time  does 
not  breathe  on  its  fadeless  bloom."  Into  this 
glorious  inheritance  are  we  begotten  again 
by  the  abundant  mercy  of  God. 

"  Begat  us  again  .  .  .  unto  a  salvation  ready  verse  5 
to  be  revealed  in  the  last  timey  Here  comes 
in  the  graciousness  of  spiritual  evolution. 
All  the  steps  on  the  work  of  salvation  are 
"ready,"  right  away  to  the  ultimate  con- 
summation. There  has  been  no  caprice  in 
the  arrangements.  There  need  be  no  uncer- 
tainty in  the  expectations.  There  has  been  no 
defect  in  the  preparations.  There  is  no  lack  in 
the  resources.  "What  is  needed  for  the  ripening 
of  the  redeemed  character  has  been  provided. 
At  every  step  of  the  way  "  all  things  are  ready." 
The  glorious  possibilities  range  from  the   seed 


8       THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

to  the  ''full  corn  in  the  ear";  from  the  new 
birth  to  the  ''salvation  ready  to  be  revealed 
in  the  last  time."  Such  is  the  inspiring 
prospect,  and  such  are  some  of  the  glorious 
possibilities  of  the  redeemed  and  re-created 
life. 

We  have  searched  this  glowing  doxology 
for  glimpses  of  the  new-begotten  life.  We 
have  gazed  upon  its  fascinating  range  of 
possibilities.  Has  it  any  suggestion  to  offer 
of  the  dynamics  by  which  these  alluring  possi- 
bilities may  be  achieved?  I  have  already 
dwelt  upon  the  vitalising  energy  which  flows 
from  its  living  hope.  Are  there  other  sugges- 
tions of  empowering  dynamics  by  which  even 
the  loftiest  spiritual  height  may  be  scaled  ?  Let 
us  glance  at  some  of  these  suggested  powers. 
Verses  ^'According  to  His  great  mercy. '^  I  am  glad 
and  grateful  that  the  pregnant  passage  is 
prefaced  by  this  word.  The  regenerated  soul 
is  just  enveloped  in  "great  mercy."  Now 
mercy  implies  sympathy.  We  cannot  have 
mercy  without  sympathy.  Without  mercy  we 
cannot  have  leniency ;  but  leniency  is  only 
thin,  pinched  fruit  compared  with  the  fat,  juicy 
fruit  of  mercy.  Without  sympathy  we  may 
have  giving,  but  unsympathetic  giving  is  like 
the  cold,  outer  threshold,  while  mercy  is  like  a 
glowing  hearthstone.     Mercy  implies  sympathy. 


CHAPTER  I.   3-5  9 

Go  a  step  further.  Sympathy  suggests  the 
choicest  companionship,  the  rarest  of  all  fellow- 
ships. Where  there  is  true  sympathy,  there  is 
the  most  exquisite  companionship.  If,  then, 
our  God  and  Father  enswathes  us  in  ''great 
mercy,"  He  visits  in  the  sweetest  fellowships. 
Therefore  in  the  redeemed  life  there  can  be 
no  loneliness,  for  in  the  Father's  presence  all 
possible  loneliness  is  destroyed.  The  mercy 
which  implies  companionship  accompanies  me 
as  a  dynamic  from  my  faintest  breathing  as 
a  babe-Christian  on  to  the  consummation  when 
I  shall  have  become  a  full-grown  man  in 
Christ. 

^^  Begat  us  again  .  .  .  by  the  resurrection  0/ Verse  3 
Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead.''  His  resurrection 
opens  to  me  the  doors  of  the  immortal  life. 
If  He  had  not  risen,  my  hope  had  never  been 
born.  The  breaking  up  of  His  grave  means 
the  breaking  up  of  man's  winter,  and  the  soit 
approach  of  the  eternal  spring.  Because  He 
has  risen,  death  no  longer  counts !  That  Life, 
which  in  death  defeated  death,  and  converted 
"  the  place  of  a  skull "  into  the  altar  of  the 
people's  hope,  is  the  dynamic  of  the  regenerate 
soul,  and  makes  the  life  invulnerable. 

"  By  the  poiuer  of  God  guarded  unto  salvation.'^  Verse  5 
Here  is  another  aspect  of  the  gracious  energy 
which  enables  me  to  convert  possibilities  into 


10      THE   FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

achievements.  I  am  "  guarded."  The  "  power 
of  God"  defends  me,  hems  me  in,  and  secures 
me  from  every  assault.  My  Father's  power 
is  my  garrison.  He  engirdles  me,  like  a  de- 
fensive army  occupying  a  city  wall,  and  makes 
me  invincible  against  the  menace  and  attacks 
of  the  devil.  "As  the  mountains  are  round 
about  Jerusalem,  so  the  Lord  is  round  about 
His  people."  Such  are  the  adequate  resources, 
and  such  the  wonderful  equipments  of  the  re- 
generate life.  The  land  that  stretches  before 
us  is  glorious.  The  power  to  possess  it  is 
equally  glorious.  They  may  both  be  ours  "  by 
faith." 


SOEEOWFUL,  YET  ALWAYS 
EEJOICING 

1  Peter  i.  6,  7 

Wherein  ye  greatly  rejoice,  though  now  for  a  little  while, 
if  need  be,  ye  have  been  put  to  grief  in  manifold  trials^ 
that  the  proof  of  your  faith,  being  more  precious  than  gold 
that  perisheth  though  it  is  proved  by  fre^  might  be  found 
unto  praise  and  glory  and  honour  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

"  Wherein  ye  greatly  rejoice  !  "  These  foun- 
tains of  spiritual  joy  slioot  into  the  light  at 
most  startling  and  unexpected  places.  Their 
favourite  haunt  seems  to  be  the  heart  of  the 
desert.  They  are  commonly  associated  with 
a  land  of  drought.  In  these  Scriptural  records 
I  so  often  find  the  fountain  bursting  through 
the  sand,  the  song  lifting  its  psean  out  of 
the  night.  If  the  text  is  a  well  of  cool  and 
delicious  water,  the  context  is  frequently 
arid  waste.  "  Wherein  ye  greatly  rejoice^  yerse  6 
though  now  .  ,  ,  ye  have  been  put  to  griefs 
A  present  rejoicing  set  in  the  midst  of  an 
environing   grief !     A  profound  and  refreshing 

11 


12      THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

satisfaction,  even  when  the  surface  of  the  life 
is  possessed  by  drought !  I  never  expected  to 
find  a  fountain  in  so  unpromising  a  waste. 
"Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile  you 
and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner 
of  evil  against  you  falsely  for  my  sake. 
E-ejoice ! "  Who  ever  expected  to  find  a 
well  in  that  Sahara?  As  I  trod  the  hot  burn- 
ing sands  of  "  reviling  "  and  "  persecuting  " 
and  false  accusing,  little  did  I  anticipate  en- 
countering a  fountain  of  spiritual  delight.  Let 
us  once  again  contemplate  the  strange  con- 
junction. "  Woe  unto  thee,  Bethsaida !  Woe 
unto  thee,  Chorazin!  Woe  unto  thee,  Caper- 
naum ! "  This  on  the  one  hand.  And  on  the 
other  hand,  "A  certain  lawyer  stood  up,  and 
tempted  Him."  And  between  the  two,  "  Jesus 
rejoiced  in  the  Spirit."  Again,  I  say,  I  am 
amazed  at  the  setting.  If  life  were  a  prolonged 
marriage-feast,  one  might  anticipate  hearing 
the  happy  bells  at  every  corner  of  the  way; 
but  to  hear  the  joyous  peal  in  the  hour  of 
grievous  midnight  and  eclipse  arrests  the 
heart  in  keen  and  strained  surprise.  "  These 
things  have  I  said  unto  you,  that  My  joy 
may  be  in  you."  "My  joy!"  And  yet 
Calvary  loomed  only  a  hand's-breadth  off, 
just  twenty-four  hours  away!  I  thought 
the  joy   bells   might  have    been    heard    away 


CHAPTER  I.  6,  7  13 


back  in  Nazareth,  in  the  beauty  and  serenity 
of  a  secluded  village  life,  or  on  some  quiet 
evening,  with  His  friends  on  the  Galilean 
lake ;  but  I  never  anticipated  hearing  them  at 
Calvary's  base,  in  full  view  of  shame  and 
crucifixion.  ''  My  joy !  "  "  One  of  you  shall 
betray  Me."  It  is  a  marvellous  conjunction,  but 
one  which  is  almost  a  commonplace  in  the 
Christian  Scriptures.  "  They  received  the  word 
in  much  affliction,  with  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost." 
It  is  a  mysterious,  yet  glorious  wedlock. 
*'  Wherein  ye  greatly  rejoice,  though  now  .  .  . 
ye  have  been  put  to  grief."  What  is  the  sug- 
gestion of  this  apparently  forced  and  incon- 
gruous union  ?  The  suggestion  is  this,  that  the 
spiritual  joy  of  the  redeemed  life  is  continuous, 
and  is  not  conditioned  by  the  changing  moods 
of  the  transient  day.  Spiritual  delights  are  not 
dried  up  when  I  pass  into  the  seasons  of  mate- 
rial drought.  When  the  shadows  settle  down 
upon  my  life,  and  my  experiences  darken  into 
night,  the  night  is  not  to  be  without  its  cheery 
and  illuminating  presence.  The  place  of  the 
midnight  is  to  be  as  "the  land  of  the  mid- 
night sun."  There  shall  be  light  enough  to 
enable  me  to  read  the  promises,  to  see  my  way, 
and  to  perceive  the  gracious  presence  of  my 
Lord.  "  He  that  f olloweth  Me  shall  not  walk  in 
darkness,    but    shall    have  the  light  of    life." 


14     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

Therefore  the  shadow  need  not  annihilate  my 
joy.      My  temporary   grief   need  not   expunge 
my   spiritual   delights.      The   funeral    knell    of 
bereavement    may    be     tolling     in     the     outer 
rooms   of   the   life,   while    in    the    most    secret 
places   may  be  heard  the  joy   bells  of  trustful 
communion  with  God.      "  Wherein   ye   greatly 
rejoice,   though  now   ...   ye   have    been   put 
to  grief." 
Verse  6      ''Wherein     ye      greatly     rejoice."      If      our 
spiritual    joy    is    to    be    continuous    and    per- 
suasive,  sending    its   pure   vitalising   ray   even 
through   the    season    of    grief,    we   shall   have 
to   see   to    it   that    it    is    adequately  nourished 
and    sustained.      Now,    the    nutriment    of    joy 
is  to  be  found  in  appropriate  thought.      Hap- 
piness  is   usually  the    resultant   of    sensations, 
the     ephemeral     product     of     sensationalisms, 
having   the   uncertain    life    of    the    things    on 
which  it  depends.     Joy  is  the  product  of  deep, 
quiet,    steady,    appropriate   thought.      Thought 
provides    the    oxygen    in     which    the    bright, 
cheery    flame     of    love     is     sustained.     What 
kind    of    thought    is    required?      ''Wherein  ye 
rejoice"!      In  what?      The   rejoicing   emerges 
from   an   atmosphere  of   thought— the  thought 
which    is    contained     in    the    previous    verses, 
and    which    formed    the     basis    of     our    last 
exposition.      It    is     a     contemplation     of     the 


CHAPTER  I.  6,  7  15 

possibilities  and  dynamics  of  tlie  redeemed 
life.  The  possibilities  stretch  away  in  a  most 
glorious  and  alluring  panorama :  "  a  living 
hope " ;  "an  inheritance  incorruptible  and 
undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away " ;  "a 
salvation  ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last 
time."  The  dynamics  are  no  less  wealthy 
than  the  prospects :  the  "  great  mercy "  of 
the  Father ;  "  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  from 
the  dead  "  ;  "  the  power  "  of  the  Holy  Ghost ! 
These  constitute  the  oxygenating  thought  of 
the  Christian  redemption.  If  the  soul  be  im- 
mersed in  it,  faint  sparks  will  be  kindled  into 
fervent  flames,  and  timid  desires  will  be 
strengthened  into  confident  rejoicing.  "As  I 
mused,  the  fire  burnt."  Let  mind  and  heart 
make  their  home  in  the  spacious  thoughts 
of  God,  and  there  will  be  born  in  the  life 
a  moral  and  spiritual  glow  which  will  not 
be  chilled  by  any  transient  cloud,  nor 
extinguished  by  the  storms  of  the  most 
tempestuous  night.  "Wherein  ye  greatly 
rejoice." 

"  Though  now  for  a  little  while,  if  need  be, 
ye  have  been  put  to  grief  in  manifold  trials ^  verse  6 
The  "  manifold  trials "  will  come.  Antago- 
nisms may  rush  down  upon  us  from  north, 
south,  east,  and  west,  and  may  twist  and 
wrench  our    lives  into   strange   bewilderments, 


16     THE  FmST  EPISTLE  OP  PETER 

and  yet  the  continuous  thread  of  spiritual 
rejoicing  need  never  be  broken.  Our  affairs 
may  be  tossed  into  incredible  complications, 
and  yet  "the  joy  of  the  Lord  may  be  our 
strength."  The  pleasing  air  of  music,  which 
in  its  simplicity  a  child  might  hum,  may 
appear  to  be  lost  as  it  passes  into  the  maze  of 
tortuous  variations  and  complications,  but  an 
expert  ear  can  detect  the  continuity  of  the 
primal  air  beneath  all  the  accretions  of  the 
voluminous  sound.  The  air  of  simple  spiritual 
rejoicing,  which  may  be  clearly  heard  when  life 
is  plain  and  serene,  may  be  continued  when 
life  becomes  complex  and  burdened,  torn  and 
harassed  by  "manifold  trials."  We  may  still 
hear  the  sweet  primitive  air  of  Christian  re- 
joicing. I  am  not  surprised  to  hear  the  sounds 
of  rejoicing  from  Paul's  life,  when  he  was 
holding  precious  and  sanctified  intercourse  with 
such  beloved  friends  as  Prisca  and  Aquila.  But 
when  the  apostle  is  "put  to  grief  through 
manifold  trials,"  and  life  becomes  dark,  heavy, 
and  complicated,  how  will  it  fare  with  him  then  ? 
"  The  gaoler  thrust  them  into  the  inner  prison, 
and  made  their  feet  fast  in  the  stocks.  And 
it  came  to  pass  that  at  the  midnight  "—that  is 
what  I  want  to  know  about — "  at  the  mid- 
night Paul  and  Silas  prayed,  and  sang  praises 
unto  Grod."     It  is  the   old   air,   rising   through 


CHAPTER  I.  6,  7  17 

the  pains  and  burden  of  a  harassed  and 
sorely  tried  life.  "As  sorrowful,  yet  always 
rejoicing." 

Now,  these  "manifold  trials"   assume   many 
guises  and  employ  varied  weapons   of   painful 
inquisition.     Some   of   them  may   be   found  in 
the  antagonism  of  men.     Loyalty  to  truth  may 
be   confronted  with   persecution.     A   beautiful 
ministry  may  be  given  an  evil  interpretation. 
Our  beneficence  may  be  maligned.      Our  very 
leniency   may   be   vituperated   and    proclaimed 
as   a   device   of  the   devil.     This   may   be   one 
of   the    guises   of   "the    manifold    trials."      Or 
our  antagonism  may  be  found  in  the  apparent 
hostility  of  our  circumstances.    Success  is  denied 
us.     Every  way  we  take  seems  to  bristle  with 
difficulties.     Every   street  we    enter   proves   to 
be  a  cul  de  sac.     We  never  emerge  into  an  airy 
and  spacious  prosperity.     We  pass  our  days  in 
material  straits.     Such  may  be  another  of  the 
guises   of   "the   manifold    trials."      Or  it   may 
be  that  our  antagonist  dwells  in  the  realm  of 
our  own  flesh.     We  suffer  incessant  pain.     We 
are   just   a   bundle   of    exquisite   nerves.      The 
streets  of  the  city  are  instruments   of  torture. 
The   bang  of  a  door  shakes  the  frail  house  to 
its  base.     We  are  the  easy  victims  of  physical 
depression.     Who  knows  but  that  this  may  have 
been  Paul's   "thorn   in   the    flesh"?     At  any 


18    THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

rate,  it  is  one  of  "  the  manifold  trials "  by 
which  many  of  our  brethren  are  put  to  grief. 
I  will  go  no  further  with  the  enumeration, 
because  I  am  almost  impatient  to  once  again 
declare  the  evangel  which  proclaims  that  be- 
hind aU  these  apparent  antagonisms  we  may 
have  the  unceasing  benediction  of  the  joy  of 
our  Lord.  It  is  possible — I  declare  it,  not  as 
my  personal  attainment,  but  as  a  glorious  pos- 
sibility which  is  both  yours  and  mine — it  is 
possible  to  get  so  deep  into  the  thought  and 
purpose  of  God,  and  to  dwell  so  near  His 
very  heart,  as  to  "  count  it  all  joy "  when 
we  "fall  into  manifold  trials,"  because  of  that 
mystic  spiritual  alchemy  by  which  trials  are 
changed  into  blessings  and  our  antagonists 
transformed  into  our  slaves. 

Can  we  just  now  nestle  a  little  more  closely 
into  the  loving  purpose  of  God?  Why  are 
antagonisms  allowed  to  range  themselves  across 
our  way  ?  Why  are  there  any  blind  streets 
which  bar  our  progress  ?  Why  does  not  labour 
always  issue  in  success  ?  Why  are  "  manifold 
trials "  permitted  ?  We  may  find  a  partial 
response  in  the  words  of  my  text.  They  are 
Verse  7  permitted  for  "  f Ae  froof^^  of  our  faith.  That 
is  the  purposed  ministry  of  the  sharp  antagonism 
and  the  cloudy  day — "  the  jproof  of  your  faith.^^ 
Now,  to  "  prove  "  the  faith  means  much  more 


CHAPTER  I.  6,  7  19 

than  to  test  it.  First  of  all,  it  means  to  reveal 
it.  To  prove  the  faith  is  to  prove  it  to  others. 
God  wants  to  reveal  and  emphasise  your  faith, 
and  so  He  sends  the  cloud.  May  we  not 
say  that  the  loveliness  of  the  moonlight  is 
revealed  and  emphasised  by  the  ministry  of  the 
cloud?  It  is  when  there  are  a  few  clouds 
about,  and  the  moonlight  transfiguring  them, 
that  the  glory  of  the  moon  herself  is  declared. 
And  it  is  when  the  cloud  is  in  the  life  that 
the  radiance  of  our  faith  is  proved  and  pro- 
claimed. How  conspicuously  the  calm,  steady 
faith  of  our  glorified  Queen  was  proved  by 
the  clouds  which  so  frequently  gathered  about 
her  life !  The  ''  manifold  trials "  set  out  in 
grand  relief  that  which  might  have  remained 
a  commonplace.  Light  which  fringes  the  cloud 
is  light  which  is  beautified.  Faith  which  gleams 
from  behind  the  trial  is  faith  which  is  glorified. 
It  is  the  hard  circumstance  which  sets  in  relief 
the  quality  of  our  devotion.  As  I  listened  to 
a  thrush  singing  in  the  cold  dawn  of  a  winter's 
morning,  I  thought  its  song  seemed  sweeter 
and  richer  than  when  heard  in  the  advanced 
days  of  spring.  The  wintry  setting  emphasised 
the  quality  of  the  strain.  Perhaps  if  we  heard 
the  nightingale  in  the  glare  of  the  noontide, 
the  song  would  not  arrest  us  as  when  it  pro- 
ceeds from  the  depths  of  the  night.     The  shades 


20    THE  FIBST  EPISTLE  OF  PETEIl 

and  loneliness  add  something  to  the  sweetness. 
*'  And  at  midnight  Paul  and  Silas  sang."  That 
is  the  song  which  is  heard  by  the  fellow-prisoners 
and  startles  them  into  wonder.  The  trial  came 
and  your  faith  was  "  proved."  You  lost  your 
money,  and  men  discovered  your  devotion. 
Your  gold,  the  finest  of  your  gold,  the  most 
rare  and  exquisite  among  your  treasures,  was 
destroyed  and  perished;  but  in  the  hour  of 
your  calamity  your  faith  was  proved,  and  men 
bowed  in  spiritual  wonder  before  the  mystery 
of  the  Divine.  Your  trial  was  your  triumph; 
the  place  of  apparent  defeat  became  the  hal- 
lowed shrine  of  a  glorious  conquest.  "  Now  are 
ye  in  grief  through  manifold  trials,"  that  in  the 
midst  of  the  cloud  the  Lord  might  "prove" 
and  reveal  your  faith. 

But  "the  manifold  trials"  do  more  than 
reveal  the  faith.  There  is  another  ministry 
wrapped  up  in  this  suggestive  word  "prove." 
Verse  7  The  trial  that  reveals  the  faith  also  streTigthens 
and  confirms  it.  The  faith  that  is  ''proved'' 
is  more  richly  endowed.  The  strong  wind  and 
rain  which  try  the  tree  are  also  the  ministers 
of  its  invigoration.  The  round  of  the  varying 
seasons  makes  the  tree  "well  seasoned,"  and 
solidifies  and  enriches  its  fibre.  It  is  the  nega- 
tive which  develops  the  strength  of  the  affirma- 
tive.     It   is   antagonism  which   cultivates    the 


CHAPTER  I.  6,  7  21 

wrestler.  It  is  the  trial  which  makes  the 
saint.  The  man  who  sustains  his  hold  upon 
God  through  one  trial  will  find  it  easier  to 
confront  the  next  trial  and  exploit  it  for 
eternal  good.  And  so  these  "  manifold  trials  " 
prove  our  faith.  They  reveal  and  they  enrich 
our  resources.  They  strengthen  and  refine 
our  spiritual  apprehension.  They  may  strip 
us  of  our  material  possessions,  ^Hhe  gold 
that  perisheth^^^  but  they  endow  us  with  the 
wealth  of  that  "inheritance"  which  is  "in- 
corruptible and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not 
away." 

And,  finally,  there  is  one  other  radiant 
glimpse  of  the  resplendent  issues  of  a  "  proved  " 
and  invigorated  faith  :  "  That  the  proof  of  your 
faith  .  .  .  might  be  found  unto  praise  and  Verse  7 
glory  and  honour  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ:* 

Our  "proved"  faith  is  to  come  to  its  crown 
in  a  manifestation  of  praise  and  glory  and 
honour.  When  Jesus  appears,  these  things  are 
to  appear  with  Him.  The  trial  of  our  faith 
is  to  issue  in  ^^  praise  J  ^  And  what  shall  be 
the  praise  ?  On  that  great  day  of  unveiling, 
when  all  things  are  made  clear,  I  shall  dis- 
cover what  my  trials  have  accomplished.  I  shall 
perceive  that  they  were  all  the  time  the  instru- 
ments  of    a    gracious   ministry,   strengthening 


22    THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

me    even    when    I    thought    I    was    being   im- 
poverished.    The  wonderful  discovery  will  urge 
my  soul  into  song,  and  praise  will  break  upon 
my  lips.     "  Found  unto  praise  and  glory. ''     And 
whose   shall  be    the    glory?     When   the   Lord 
appears,   many   other    things    will   become    ap- 
parent.    What  I  thought  hard  will  now  appear 
as   gracious.     What  I  recoiled  from  as  severe 
I  shall  find  to  be  merciful.     What  I  esteemed 
as    forgetfulness    will    reveal    itself    as   faith- 
fulness.    He  was  nearest  when  I  thought  Him 
farthest   away.     He    was    faithful    even    when 
I    was    faithless.      At    His    appearing    I    shall 
apprehend    and    appreciate    my    Lord.      "The 
glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed."     "  Found 
unto     praise    and     glory     aoid    honour^      And 
whence   shall    flow    the    honour?     I    shall   find 
that  when   the   Lord  sent  a  trial,   and  by  the 
trial  revealed  my  faith,  many  a  fainting  heart 
took   courage,   and   by   the    beauty   of   my   de- 
votion  many   a   shy   soul    was   secretly   wooed 
into    the    kingdom    of    God.      I    never    knew 
it,  but  at  His  appearing  this  shall  also  appear. 
This   discovery   shall   be   my   coronation.     The 
supreme   honours    of    heaven   are   reserved  for 
those  who  have  brought  others  there.     "They 
that  turn  many  to  righteousness  shall  shine  as 
the  stars  for  ever  and  ever."     And  so  by  the 
cloud   of    manifold    trials    God    leads    me   into 


CHAPTER  I.  6,  7  23 

tlie   spacious  sovereignty  of  glory,  praise,  and 
honour. 

God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 

His  wonders  to  perform ; 
He  plants  His  footsteps  in  the  sea, 

And  rides  upon  the  storm. 

Ye  fearful  saints,  fresh  courage  take; 

The  clouds  ye  so  much  dread 
Are  big  with  mercy,  and  shall  break 

With  blessings  on  your  head. 


A    TWOFOLD    EELATIONSHIP    AND    ITS 

FEUITS. 

1  Petee  i.  8,  9 

Whom  not  having  seen  ye  love  ;  on  whom,  though  now  ye  see 
Him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  greatly  ivith  joy  unspeak- 
able and  full  of  glory. 

Verse  8 "  Whom  not  having  seen  ye  loveJ'  We  some- 
times speak  of  "  love  at  first  sight."  Two  lives 
are  brought  together,  and  there  is  a  recognition 
pregnant  with  far-off  destinies.  "Deep  calleth 
unto  deep."  The  affinities  leap  into  spiritual 
wedlock.  Each  knows  the  other  as  life's  com- 
plement, and  the  hearts  embrace  in  hallowed 
union.     It  was  only  a  look,  and  love  was  born  : 

Entering  then, 
Right  o'er  a  mount  of  newly  fallen  stones, 
The  dusky-raftered,  many-cobwebbed  hall, 
He  found  an  ancient  dame  in  dim  brocade ; 
And  near  her,  like  a  blossom  vermeil-white 
That  lightly  breaks  a  faded  flower  sheath, 
Moved  the  fair  Enid  all  in  faded  silk. 
Her  daughter.    In  a  moment  thought  Geraint, 
"Here  by  God's  rood  is  the  one  maid  for  me." 

The  fair  vision  came,  and  its  gentle  impression 
awoke  the  sleeping  love  and  stirred  it  into  fer- 
vent and  vigilant  life.  It  was  "  love  at  first  sight." 

24 


CHAPTER  I.  8,  9  25 

But  love  is  not  always  aroused  by  the  first 
sight.     Tlie  "  first  sight "  may  not  stir  the  heart 
to  even  a  languid  interest.     The  vision  may  be  as 
uninfluential  as  a  cipher.     Or  the  "  first  sight " 
may  create  a  repulsion.     It  may  excite  my  dis- 
like.    It  may  rather  rouse  the  critic  than  wake 
the  lover.     But  love  that   remains  sleeping  at 
the    "first    sight"    may   be   aroused   by   more 
intimate    communion.      The   ministries    of    the 
spirit   may  triumph  where   the   allurements  of 
the  countenance  failed.     Love  may  be  born,  not 
of  sight,  but  of  fellowship.     It  may  spring  into 
being  amid  the  intimacies  of  a  deepening  com- 
panionship.   You  remember  the  story  of  Othello 
and   Desdemona,    and    how    their   hearts  were 
drawn   into    affectionate    communion.      It  was 
not   love   at   "first   sight,"    but   love    at  heart 
sight.     He  told  her  the  story  of  his  chequered 
life,    of    "battles,     sieges,    fortunes"    he    had 
passed,  of  disastrous  chances,   of  moving  acci- 
dents by  flood  and  field.     "  This  to  hear  would 
Desdemona  seriously  incline." 

My  story  being  done 
She  gave  me  for  my  pains  a  world  of  sighs ; 
She  swore,  in  faith,  'twas  strange,  'twas  passing  strange  ; 
'Twas  pitiful,  'twas  wondrous  pitiful. 


She  loved  me  for  the  dangers  I  had  passed, 
And  I  loved  her  that  she  did  pity  them. 


26     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF   PETER 

It  was  the  communion  of  spirit  with  spirit 
which  unsealed  the  springs  of  their  affection. 
We  recognise  the  principle  in  common  life. 
A  number  of  young  people  are  thrown  together 
in  frequent  fellowship.  For  months,  and  per- 
haps for  years,  their  association  does  not  pass 
beyond  the  sphere  of  friendship.  But  one  day 
the  fellowship  of  two  of  them  opened  into 
intimacy,  and  the  sober  servant,  friendship, 
made  way  for  the  master  passion,  love.  They 
had  seen  each  other's  faces  for  years,  and  they 
remained  companions ;  they  caught  a  glimpse 
of  each  other's  hearts,  and  they  were  trans- 
formed into  lovers.  So  love  may  be  the  child 
of  spiritual  intimacy.  It  may  wait  on  know- 
ledge. It  may  wake  into  being  through  the 
ministry  of  a  deep  communion. 

*'Whom  not  having  seen  ye  love."  Theirs 
was  not  the  love  born  of  gazing  upon  Christ's 
face,  but  the  love  begotten  by  communion  with 
His  heart.  Love  may  be  born  of  spiritual 
fellowship.  If  only  we  can  get  into  intimacy 
with  the  Master's  spirit,  love  may  wake  into 
being  and  song.  It  is  just  for  this  opportunity 
of  individual  communion  that  the  Master  is 
craving.  He  has  little  fear  of  our  not  fall- 
ing in  love  with  Him,  if  we  will  only  listen 
to  His  story.  He  wants  to  visit  the  heart 
and  whisper  His  evangel  in  the   secret  place. 


CHAPTER  I.  8,   9  27 

Do    I    debase    the    sublime    quest   wben   I  say- 
He   yearns    to    "court"    the  soul,  to   woo   and 
to   win   it  ?     "  If   any  man  will  open  the  door, 
I   will  come   in  and   sup   with   him."      That  is 
what  He  asks — an  open  door.      He   asks  to  be 
allowed  to   visit  the   soul,   to    pay  His   atten- 
tions, to    declare  His   aims   and   purposes,    and 
to   whisper  the   Gospel   of  His    own  unsearch- 
able love.     He  wants  to  talk  to  us  separately 
in  individual  wooings.     He  wants  us  to  find  a 
little  time  to  listen  to  Him  while  He  talks  about 
the   Father  and  Sonship,  and  life  and  its   re- 
sources,  and  heaven    and    its   rest   and   glory. 
He  wants   to   talk  to  us   about  the  burden  of 
sin  and  guilt,  and  the  exhaustion  of  weakness. 
He  wants   to   whisper   something  to   us   about 
our  newly  born  child  and  about  our  newly  made 
grave.     He  would  like   to   come   very  near  to 
us  and  tell  us  what   He   knows   about   sorrow 
and  death,  and  the  morrow  which  begins  at  the 
shadow  we  fear.     I  say  He  wants  to  tell  it  all 
to   thee   and  to   me — to   thee,   my   brother,   as 
though  there  were  no  other  soul  to  woo  beneath 
God's  heaven.     The  winsome    story  shall  wind 
its  wonderful  way  around  Christ  and  Bethlehem 
and  thee,  around  Christ   and  Gethsemane  and 
thee,    around    Christ    and    Calvary    and   thee, 
around  Christ  and  heaven  and  thee !     He  will 
tell  thee  of  His  agonies  and  tears,  and  He  will 


28     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

show  thee  the  scars  He  received  in  the  quest  of 
thy  redemption. 

Hath  He  marks  to  lead  me  to  Him 

If  He  be  my  guide  1 
In  His  hands  and  feet  are  wound-prints, 

And  His  side. 

He  will  tell  thee  all  His  story.  And  the  sublime 
purpose  of  the  communion  shall  be  to  woo 
thee,  that  in  His  tender  fellowship  the  springs 
of  thine  own  love  may  be  unsealed  and  thou 
mayest  become  engaged,  by  the  bonds  of  an 
eternal  covenant,  to  the  Lord  of  life  and  glory. 
*'  "We  love  him  because  he  first "  wooed  us 
The  early  love  may  be  timid  and  shy,  half 
afraid  of  itself,  and  trembling  in  some  un- 
certainty, but  it  shall  put  on  strength  and 
sweetness  in  the  deeper  and  riper  fellowships 
of  your  wedded  life.  Wedded  to  the  King,  you 
shall  come  to  realise  more  and  more  the  freedom 
of  His  forgiveness,  the  triumph  of  His  power, 
the  sweet  pressure  of  His  presence,  the  alluring 
glory  of  the  living  hope,  and  with  this  enrich- 
ment of  your  intimacies  your  heart  will  become 
possessed  by  a  more  intense  and  fervent  affection 
for  Him  "  whom  not  having  seen  ye  love." 

''  On  ivhom  .  .  .  believingJ^  Here  is  a  second  ex- 
pression of  the  Christian's  relationship  to  Christ. 
"Oti  whom  .  .  .  believing."  The  figure  is  sug- 
gestive   of    a  leaning  posture,   an  attitude   of 


CHAPTER  I.   8,   9  29 

dependence,  a  confident  resting  of  one's  weight 
upon  the  Christ  we  love.     It  is  the  acceptance 
of  His  reasonings  as  sound.     It  is  the  assumption 
that  His  judgments  are  dependable.      It  is  the 
usage  of  His  weapons  as  adequate  for  our  strife. 
It  is  the  assurance  that  His  promises  are  the  ex- 
pression of  spiHtual  laws,  and  that  there  is  no 
more  caprice  in  their  ministry  than  there  is  in 
the  operation   of   laws   in   the   physical  world. 
''On  Him    believing."     But    it    is    more    than 
assent  to  a  conclusion,  more  than  a  confidence 
m  His   word.     It  is   repose   upon   a  person,  a 
resting  upon  a  presence,  a  trusting  in  a  com- 
panionship.    If  the  Christian  evangel  is  worth 
anything  at  all  it  means  this— that  the  Christ 
of  God,  the  ''  Lover  of  the  soul,"  is  by  the  loved 
one's  side  in  inseparable  and  all-sufficient  fellow- 
Bhip.     In   the   moment   of  extraordinary  crisis 
and   strain,   "  on "   Him   I   can  depend  for  im- 
mediate equipment.     In  the  long-drawn-out  day 
of  wearying  and  monotonous  commonplace,  "on  " 
Him  I  can  lean  for  unfailing  supplies.     In  the 
dark  and  cloudy  day,  and  amid  the  gathering 
terrors  of  the  advancing  night,  "  on  "   Him    I 
can  depend  for  inspiring  light  and  life.     That  is 
the  very  music  of  the  Christian  evangel.     The 
words   which    indicate    the    Master's    presence 
suggest  the  all-significant  closeness  of  His  Spirit. 
"  Companion !  "    "  Comforter !  "    ^'  Fellowship !  "* 


30     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

"  Partaker  !  "  The  phraseology  varies ;  the  sig- 
nificance is  one.  The  Lord  is  imminent  and 
immediate :  ''  Closer  is  He  than  breathing,  and 
nearer  than  hands  and  feet " ;  upon  Him  we 
may  trustfully  rest  our  weight  in  all  the 
changing  circumstances  of  our  ever-changing 
way. 
Verse  8  "  Whom  not  having  seen  ye  love ;  on  whom  ,  .  . 
believing^  ye  rejoice.^^  Is  there  anything  surprising 
in  the  issue  ?  Won  by  His  love,  wedded  to  the 
Lord,  confident  in  His  fellowship — is  it  any 
wonder  that  out  of  such  wealthy  conditions 
there  should  a^rise  a  fountain  of  joy  ?  Surely 
we  have  the  very  ingredients  of  spiritual  de- 
light. If  we  take  spiritual  affection — "whom 
not  having  seen  ye  love  " — and  combine  it  with 
spiritual  confidence — "on  whom  .  .  .  believing" 
— I  do  not  see  how  we  can  escape  the  crown  of 
rejoicing.  If  either  of  the  elements  be  anni- 
hilated, our  joy  is  destroyed.  All  the  bird-music 
that  rings  through  the  countryside  at  the  dawn 
can  be  hushed  by  the  appearance  of  the  hawk. 
Let  your  little  child  come  into  a  presence  in 
whom  she  has  not  gained  confidence,  and  the 
light  of  joy  departs,  and  her  face  becomes  like 
a  blown-out  lamp.  It  is  the  co-operative 
ministry  of  love  and  confidence  which  awakes 
the  genius  of  joy.  It  is  the  love  and  con- 
fidence of  wedded  life  which  make  the  clear, 


CHAPTER  I.  8,  9  31 

calm  joy  of  tlie  hurrying  years.  The  thought 
of  the  loved  one  is  a  baptism  of  light.  A  letter 
from  the  loved  one  redeems  any  day  from 
commonplace.  The  presence  of  the  loved  one 
is  a  full  and  perpetual  feast.  It  is  not  other- 
wise in  the  highest  relationships.  If  the  soul 
and  the  Lord  are  lovers,  and  there  is  a  mutual 
confidence,  the  soul  will  drink  at  the  river  of 
rare  and  exquisite  delights.  To  think  of  Him 
will  set  the  bells  a-ringing. 

Jesus,  the  very  thought  of  Thee 
With  sweetness  fills  my  breast. 

How  unlike  that  other  soul  of  whom  we  read  in 
the  Sacred  Word,  "  I  remembered  God,  and  was 
troubled."     A  thought  that  rang  an  alarm-bell. 

Jesus,  the  very  thought  of  Thee 
With  sweetness  fills  my  breast. 

A  remembrance  that  rang  anew  the  wedding- 
bells.  **  Whom  not  having  seen  ye  love."  Then 
it  is  daytime  in  the  soul.  "  On  whom  .  .  . 
believing."  Then  there  is  no  cloud  over  the 
communion.  Daytime  and  no  cloud !  Then 
there  must  be  sunshine  in  the  soul.  "  Ye  rejoice 
greatly  with  joy  unspeakable  and  fuU  of  glory." 

"  With  joy  unspeakable^     All  the  deepest  and  verse 
richest    things   are   unspeakable.      A    mother's 
love  !     Who  has  discovered  a  symbol  by  which 
to  express  it?     It  is  unspeakable,     A  profound 


^      32     THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

grief !  Where  is  tlie  speech  in  which  it  can 
be  enshrined? 

In  words  like  weeds  I'll  wrap  me  o'er, 
Like  coarsest  clothes  against  the  cold ; 
But  that  large  grief  which  these  enfold 

Is  given  in  outline  and  no  more. 

It  is  unspeakable.  A  bleeding  sympathy !  Has 
it  not  just  to  remain  dumb  ?  We  stand  or  sit 
with  interlocked  hands,  bereft  of  all  adequate 
expression !  It  is  unspeakable.  A  spiritual 
joy  !  How  shall  we  tell  it  ?  Where  is  the  mould 
of  speech  which  can  catch  and  hold  the  ethereal 
presence  ?     It  is  unspeakable. 

But  what  to  those  who  find  ?    Ah !  this 

Nor  tongue  nor  pen  can  show: 
The  love  of  Jesus,  what  it  is 

None  but  His  loved  ones  know. 

Verse  8  "  With  joy  unspeakable  smdfull  of  glory. ^^  It  is 
a  joy  which  is  glorious  and  glorifying.  There 
are  joys  that  weaken  and  impair  the  soul.  The 
happiness  of  the  world  is  a  corroding  atmosphere 
that  blunts  and  destroys  the  fine  perception  and 
discernments  of  the  life.  But  "joy  in  the 
Lord"  is  light  which  glorifies  life.  It  is  like 
sunshine  on  the  landscape.  It  adds  warmth, 
and  beauty,  and  tenderness,  and  grace.  This 
joy  is  never  productive  of  weakness ;  it  is 
synonymous  with  power.  "  The  joy  of  the  Lord 
is  your  strength." 


CHAPTER  I.   8,   9  33 

^^  Receiving  the  end  of  your  faith^  even  the  Yevsed 
salvation  of  your  soulsJ'  Wedded  to  the  Lord 
in  consecrated  love,  leaning  upon  Him  in  con- 
fident dependence,  rejoicing  in  joy  unspeak- 
able— surely  this  will  mean  a  ripening  personality 
maturing  day  by  day,  shedding  not  only  its 
disease  but  also  its  impotence.  We  "  receive  " 
the  salvation  of  our  souls.  Moment  by  moment 
we  "receive"  it.  Our  salvation  is  a  gradual 
but  assured  ascension  into  the  strength  and 
beauty  of  the  King.  We  are  in  the  currents 
of  the  everlasting  life.  Moment  by  moment  we 
receive  the  end  of  our  faith.  Each  moment 
deposits  its  own  contribution  to  my  spiritual 
heritage.  Moment  by  moment  I  enter  more 
deeply  into  my  inheritance  in  Christ,  into  "  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  grace." 


BEING  FASHIONED 

1  Petee  i.  13-16 

Wherefore  girding  up  the  loins  of  your  mind,  he  sober  and 

set  your  hope  perfectly  on  the  grace  that  is  being  brought 
unto  you  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ ;  as  children 
of  obedience,  not  fashioning  yourselves  according  to  your 
former  lusts  in  the  time  of  your  ignorance  :  but  like  as  He 
which  called  you  is  holy,  be  ye  yourselves  also  holy  in  all 
manner  of  living  ;  because  it  is  written,  Ye  shall  be  holy ; 
for  I  am  holy. 

*'  Wherefore  I "  The  word  gathers  up  all  the 
wealthy  results  of  the  previous  reasonings. 
The  present  appeal  is  based  on  the  introductory 
evangel.  The  inspiration  of  tasks  is  found  in 
the  recesses  of  profound  truths.  Spiritual 
impulse  is  created  by  the  momentum  of  super- 
lative facts.  The  dynamic  of  duty  is  born  in 
the  heart  of  the  Gospel.  "  Wherefore,"  says 
the  apostle,  if  these  be  your  prospects  and 
dynamics,  if  you  have  been  *'  begotten  again 
into  a  living  hope,"  if  you  are  heirs  to 
"an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  undefiled," 
if  even  apparent  hostilities   may  be  converted 

8i 


CHAPTER   I.    13-16  35 

into  wealthy  helpmeets,  and  "manifold  trials" 
into  the  ministers  of  salvation,  "  girding  np  the 
loins  of  your  mind,  be  sober  and  set  ycur 
hope  perfectly  on  the  grace  that  is  being 
brought  unto  you  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ." 

The  "  wherefore "  is  thus  suggestive  of  the 
bases  of  this  urgent  and  practical  appeal.  Our 
life  is  purposed  to  shine  in  Divine  dignity. 
Our  prospects  are  glorious.  Our  resources  are 
abounding.  We  should  therefore  lay  aside 
our  laxity.  Life  should  not  be  spent  in  idle 
reverie.  Our  movement  should  not  be  a  careless 
sauntering.  Our  rest  should  not  be  a  thought- 
less lounging.  Life  should  be  characterised  by 
clear  sight,  definite  thought,  eager  purpose,  and 
decided  ends. 

"  Wherefore  girding  tip  the  loins  of  your  mind.''  Verse  13 
The  figure  of  the  passage  is  taken  from  the 
flowing  garments  of  the  Oriental  dress.  The 
flapping  robes  catch  the  wind  and  wrap  them- 
selves about,  the  legs,  and  become  serious 
hindrances  to  easy  and  progressive  movement. 
The  wearer  therefore  lays  hold  of  the  en- 
tangling garments  and  tucks  them  into  a  girdle, 
which  discharges  the  ministry  of  a  belt.  He 
gathers  together  the  disorderly  robes  and  binds 
them  into  a  compact  and  serviceable  vesture. 
Now,  the   apostle   declares   that   a   similar   dis- 


36     THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETEE 

order  may  prevail  in  the  realm  of  thought  and 
affection.  Our  life  may  be  characterised  by 
mental  slovenliness.  Our  thoughts  may  trail  in 
loose  disorder.  We  may  give  little  or  no  care 
to  the  beauty  and  firmness  of  the  mind.  How 
much  loose  thinking  there  is  concerning  the 
profoundest  and  most  vital  concerns  of  our 
life  !  And  the  loose  thinking  does  not  end  with 
itself.  A  loose  garment  may  trip  a  man  up 
and  cause  him  to  stumble.  Loose  thinking  is 
equally  perilous,  and  may  lead  to  moral 
entanglement  and  perdition.  Loose  thinking 
is  creative  of  loose  living ;  mental  slovenliness 
issues  in  moral  disorder.  Therefore  "  gird  up 
the  loins  of  your  mind."  Put  some  strenuous- 
ness  into  your  thinking.  Do  not  let  your 
thought  drift  along  on  the  stream  of  reverie. 
Steer  your  thought  and  strongly  guide  it  into 
wealthy  havens.  How  do  I  think  about  God  ? 
Loosely  and  unworthily,  or  with  firm  and 
fruitful  conception  ?  "  God  is  gi^eat"  and  greatly 
to  be  thought  about ;  and  if  I  think  about  Him 
loosely  my  sonship  will  be  a  stumbling  and  an 
offence.  How  do  I  think  about  grace  ?  Is  my 
thinking  sluggish  and  unworthy,  and  so  do  I 
"  despise  the  riches  of  his  goodness "  ?  How 
do  I  think  about  my  spiritual  call  and  prospects 
and  destiny  ?  Am  I  stumbling  over  my  own 
thinking  ?      Are   my   own   garments   my  most 


CHAPTER   I.    13-16  37 

immediate  snares  ?  Is  my  spiritual  confusion 
the  result  of  my  mental  indolence?  "My 
people  do  not  consider."  In  my  want  of  strong 
and  strenuous  thinking  may  be  found  some 
explanation  of  my  moral  and  spiritual 
disasters. 

As  it  is  with  the  element  of  thought,  so  it  is 
with  the  power  of  affection ;  for  perhaps  in  the 
spiritual  term  "  mind "  both  thought  and 
affection  are  included.  We  speak  of  "  wander- 
ing affections,"  and  truly  affection  may  become 
an  appalling  vagrant.  Affection  is  easily 
allured,  easily  entangled,  easily  snared  by  the 
worldly  glitter  which  gleams  by  the  side  of 
the  common  way.  Or,  if  we  recur  to  the 
apostle's  figure,  our  loose  affections,  like  flowing 
garments  that  are  blown  about  by  the  wind, 
entangle  our  faculties  and  make  havoc  of  our 
moral  and  spiritual  progress.  We  must  "gird 
up  the  loins  "  of  our  affection.  It  will  not  be 
child's  play,  but  he  who  wants  a  religion  of 
child's  play  must  not  seek  the  companionship 
of  Christ.  The  Master  spake  of  cutting  off  the 
right  hand  and  plucking  out  the  right  eye,  and 
the  bleeding  figure  has  reference  to  the  sever- 
ing of  relationships  and  the  disentangling  of 
well-established  affections.  To  free  a  flowing 
garment  which  has  been  caught  in  a  thorn 
hedge  may  necessitate  rents,  and  to  disentangle 


38     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

an  unworthy  affection  may  necessitate  pain, 
but  even  at  the  cost  of  rent  and  pain  the 
deliverance  must  be  effected.  We  must  gird 
up  the  loins  of  our  trailing  affections.  "We 
must  not  hold  them  so  cheaply.  We  must  not 
permit  them  to  sweep  the  broad  road  and 
to  expose  themselves  to  the  entanglement  of 
every  obtruding  thorn.  We  must  "  set "  our 
"  affections  upon  things  above,"  and  for  that 
sublime  purpose  we  must  gather  them  together 
in  strenuous  concentration.  This  exhortation 
is  therefore  an  appeal  for  collectedness  both  of 
thought  and  of  feeling.  It  is  a  warning  against 
mental  and  affectional  looseness,  and  with 
loving  urgency  the  apostle  pleads  with  his 
readers  to  pull  themselves  together,  to  gird  up 
their  loins,  and  with  full  energy  of  thought  and 
feeling  devote  themselves  to  the  worship  and 
service  of  God. 
Verse  13  '•'' Be  sobeT^  This  is  more  than  an  injunction 
against  intemperance  in  diet.  Intemperance  is 
productive  of  stupor.  It  is  the  enemy  of  a 
refined  sensitiveness.  It  is  creative  of  heaviness 
and  sleep.  And  it  is  this  closing  of  the  senses, 
by  whatever  agency  it  may  be  induced,  against 
which  the  apostle  raises  his  voice  in  clamant 
warning.  "  Be  sober."  Be  on  your  guard 
against  everything  which  is  creative  of  heavi- 
ness,  and  which  may  put  your   senses   into   a 


CHAPTEE   I.    13-16  39 

perilous  sleep.  At  all  costs  keep  awake  and 
vigilant !  Just  as  excessive  drinking  drugs  the 
flesh  and  sinks  the  body  into  a  heavy  sleep, 
so  there  are  other  conditions  which  create  a 
similar  stupor  in  the  soul  and  by  which  the 
moral  and  spiritual  senses  are  burdened  and 
benumbed.  There  are  opiates  and  narcotics 
which  may  make  us  spiritually  drunk,  and 
render  us  unconscious  of  the  Divine  voices  that 
peal  from  the  heights.  "  Not  a  few  sleep." 
The  sleep  is  induced  by  opiates.  There  is  the 
opiate  of  pleasure ;  there  is  the  opiate  of 
prosperity;  there  is  the  opiate  of  self-satisfac- 
tion ;  there  is  the  depressing  drug  of  disap- 
pointment. Against  all  these  we  are  to  be 
on  our  guard.  "Be  sober,"  and  amid  all  the 
narcotising  atmospheres  of  enchanted  grounds 
preserve  a  wakeful  spirit  by  a  ceaseless  fellow- 
ship with  God. 

"  And  set  your  hope  jperfectly  on  the  grace  that  Verse  13 
is  being  brought  unto  you  in  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
GhristJ^  Here  is  the  spiritual  attitude  by  which 
the  girded  and  sober  life  may  be  attained.  My 
resources  are  to  be  found  in  the  grace  that  is 
brought  unto  me  in  Christ.  In  Christ  is  my 
reservoir  of  power.  The  grace  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  is  my  dynamic.  The  resource  will  never 
fail  me.  The  supply  is  never  exhausted.  It 
is    "being   brought"    unto   me   continually — a 


40     THE   FIEST   EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

"river  of  water  of  life."  Grace  is  just  a  full 
river  of  heavenly  favour,  carrying  all  need- 
ful equipment  and  rich  with  the  potencies  of 
eternal  life.  Upon  this  grace  I  am  to  find  the 
basis  of  my  hope.  I  am  to  "  set  my  hope 
perfectly  "  upon  this  as  the  all-sufficient  energy 
for  lifting  me  to  the  unveiled  heights  and 
enabling  me  to  dwell  there  in  undisturbed 
serenity.  I  am  to  release  my  thought  from 
hindering  entanglements,  and  I  am  to  deliver 
my  afiection  from  enslaving  fellowships,  and  I 
am  to  preserve  a  vigilant  sobriety  amid  all  the 
sleep-inducing  atmospheres  of  the  world;  and 
for  the  accomplishment  of  this  glorious  emanci- 
pation I  am  bidden  to  "  set  my  hope  perfectly 
on  the  grace  that  is  being  brought  unto  me  at 
the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ." 

The  apostle  now  probes  more  deeply  into 
the  mode  of  godly  living,  and  unveils  a  httle 
more  clearly  the  principle  by  which  the  holy 
life  is  fashioned.  Life  is  formed  by  conformity. 
There  is  always  a  something  towards  which  we 
tend  and  approximate,  and  "  we  take  hue  from 
that  to  which  we  cling."  There  is  always  a 
something  "  according  to  "  which  we  are  being 
shaped.  "  According  to  Thy  word,"  "  according 
to  this  world,"  "  according  to  the  former  lusts." 
We  are  for  ever  coming  into  accord  with  some- 
thing, and  that  something  determines  the  fashion 


CHAPTER   I.    13-16  41 

of  our  lives.  Now,  this  principle  of  "  forming 
by  conforming"  is  proclaimed  by  the  apostle 
in  the  succeeding  words  of  this  great  passage ; 
and  as  ^''children  of  obedience^''  we  are  called 
to  a  manner  of  life  which  at  once  demands 
a  stern  nonconformity  and  a  strong  and  fervent 
conformity. 

"  Not  fashioning  yourselves  according  to  your  verse  14 
former  lusts  in  the  time  of  your  ignorance^  "  Not 
fashioning  .  .  .  according  to  lusts."  That  con- 
formity must  be  broken.  That  "  accordance  " 
must  be  destroyed.  Our  lusts  must  not  be  our 
formatives,  giving  shape  and  fashion  to  our 
lives.  If  our  lust  raise  its  feverish  and  im- 
perious demand,  we  must  be  stern  and  relentless 
nonconformists.  Are  we  imagining  that  the 
imperiousness  of  lust  moves  in  very  circum- 
scribed ways,  and  that  perhaps  we  escape  from 
its  fierce  and  burning  tyranny  ?  The  New 
Testament  conception  of  lust  covers  a  very 
spacious  area,  and  includes  elements  to  which 
perhaps  we  should  not  give  the  appalling  name. 
You  may  have  the  same  element  in  different 
guises,  now  appearing  as  a  solid,  and  now  as 
a  liquid,  and  now  as  a  gas.  And  you  may 
have  the  same  essential  vice  in  some  tangible 
loathsomeness  and  in  some  hidden  and  im- 
palpable temper.  The  Master  told  us  that  we 
have  the   same   essential    thing  in  anger  and 


42     THE  FIEST   EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

in  murder,  only  one  is  gross  and  solid,  while 
the  other  is  gaseous  and  comparatively  refined. 
But  the  trouble  is  that,  when  vice  is  gaseous, 
we  conceive  it  as  proportionately  harmless ;  when 
it  solidifies  into  open  crime,  it  ensures  our  re- 
probation. Now,  when  the  Master  speaks  of 
lust,  He  speaks  of  it  in  its  gaseous  state,  as 
a  condition  of  thought,  as  a  state  of  temper, 
as  a  mode  of  spirit ;  and  in  this  interpretation 
**lust"  is  just  the  essentially  carnal,  the  itching 
after  the  world,  the  feverish  desire  for  selfish 
pleasure,  to  the  utter  ignoring  of  the  supremacy 
of  the  truth. 

In  many  lives  this  lust  is  the  determining 
and  formative  force ;  everything  is  made  to 
bow  to  it ;  all  the  affairs  of  life  are  fashioned 
by  it.  It  occupies  the  throne  and  moulds  all 
life's  concerns  into  its  own  accord.  The  apostle 
vehemently  counsels  his  readers  against  this 
conformity.  He  pleads  that  the  children  of 
liberty  should  not  retain  the  governing  powers 
of  their  servitude.  The  night  should  not  pro- 
vide the  patterns  for  the  day.  The  season  of 
"  ignorance "  should  not  create  the  ruling 
powers  for  the  season  of  knowledge  and  revela- 
tion. He  urges  them  to  revolt  against  the  old 
forces,  to  become  spiritual  nonconformists,  not 
fashioning  themselves  after  their  former  lusts. 
Vcive  15      t'  But  like  as  He  which  called  you  is  holy,  be 


CHAPTER   I.    13-16  43 

ye  yourselves  also  holy  in  all  manner  of  living.^^ 
The  holy  God  is  to  be  the  formative  force  in 
our  life,  and  to  Him  are  we  to  be  devoted  in 
close  and  intimate  conformity.  "  As  He  which 
called  you."  The  call  is  a  Divine  pledge.  The 
acceptance  of  the  call  implies  a  human  obliga- 
tion. There  is  the  pledge  on  the  side  of  God, 
and  the  obligation  on  the  side  of  man.  The 
call,  given  and  received,  creates  an  intimate 
fellowship.  The  One  who  calls  is  holy,  and 
by  the  mighty  ministry  of  the  Spirit  he  who 
shares  the  fellowship  is  transformed  into  the 
same  holiness.  All  fellowship  with  God  is  pro- 
ductive of  spiritual  likeness.  If  we  gaze  into 
His  face,  we  shall  be  illumined  with  the  light 
of  His  countenance.  "  Beholding  as  in  a  mirror 
the  glory  of  the  Lord,  we  are  transformed 
into  the  same  image."  AVe  absorb  the  glory 
of  the  Lord.  We  become  transfigured  by  it. 
Let  us  mark  the  breadth  of  the  transform- 
ing process.  We  are  to  be  holy  *'  in  all 
manner  of  living."  The  pervasive  power  of  the 
Spirit  is  to  influence  every  walk  of  life  and 
every  part  of  the  walk.  The  transfiguring 
energy  is  to  inhabit  even  trifles,  and  the 
commonplaces  of  life  are  to  be  illumined  by 
the  indwelling  of  the  eternal  light.  We  shall 
grow  in  grace,  putting  on  more  and  more  of  the 
beauty  of  Him  in  whose  fellowship  we  dwell. 


44     THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

Verse  16  "  Because  it  is  written,  Ye  shall  he  holy ;  for  1 
am  holyT  That  is  more  than  an  imperative ; 
it  is  an  evangel.  It  is  a  command  which  en- 
shrines a  promise.  Because  God  is  holy  we 
have  the  promise  of  holiness.  Therefore  we 
may  sing  with  the  psalmist,  in  words  which 
at  the  first  hearing  may  appear  strange,  "  "We 
give  thanks  at  the  remembrance  of  His  holi- 
ness." Wherefore,  with  this  glorious  provision 
for  our  life,  with  resources  more  than  adequate 
for  our  tasks,  with  power  that  even  surpasses 
the  grandeur  of  our  calling,  let  us  "gird  up 
the  loins  of  our  mind,  be  sober,  and  set  our 
hope  perfectly  on  the  grace  that  is  being 
brought  unto  us  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ." 


THE  HOLINESS   OF  THE  FATHER 

1  Peter  i.  17-21 

And  if  ye  call  on  Him  as  Father,  who  without  respect 
of  persons  jitdgeth  according  to  each  marCs  work,  pass  the 
time  of  your  sojourning  in  fear  :  knowing  that  ye  were 
redeemed,  not  with  corru2ytihle  things,  with  silver  or  gold, 
from  your  vain  manner  of  life  handed  down  from  your 
fathers;  hut  with  precious  blood,  as  of  a  lamb  withou 
blemish  and  without  spot,  even  the  blood  of  Christ :  who 
was  foreknown  indeed  before  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
but  was  m/xnifested  at  the  end  of  the  times  for  your  sake, 
who  through  Him  are  believers  in  God,  which  raised  Him 
from  the  dead,  and  gave  Him  glory ;  so  that  your  faith 
and  hope  might  be  in  God, 

*'  If  ye  call  on  Him  as  Father^  who  .  .  ,  judgeih.^^  Verse  17 
That  is  an  extraordinary  conjunction  of  terms. 
It  is  a  daring  and  surprising  companion- 
ship to  associate,  in  immediate  union,  the 
function  of  the  judge  with  the  personality  of 
Father.  I  had  anticipated  that  the  term 
"  Father  '^  would  have  suggested  quite  other 
relationships,  and  would  have  emphasised 
functions  of  an  altogether  different  type.  I  did 
not  anticipate  the  intimate  wedlock  of  "  Father '' 
and  "judge."      I  had    thought  that  the   glad 

45 


46     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

succession  would  have  proceeded  somewhat  on 
this  wise  :  ''  If  ye  call  on  Him  as  Father,  who 
lovethl''  "If  ye  call  on  Him  as  Father,  who 
pitieth  !  "  ''  If  ye  call  on  Him  as  Father,  who 
forgiveth  !  "  I  had  interpreted  the  word  "  father  " 
as  being  suggestive  of  the  free  and  kindly 
intimacies  of  the  fireside ;  but  here  it  stands 
indicative  of  the  august  prerogatives  of  a  throne. 
"If  ye  call  on  Him  as  Father,  who  judgeth." 
The  element  which  I  had  forgotten  is  made 
conspicuous  and  primary,  and  determines  the 
shape  and  colour  of  man's  relationship  to  God. 
"  If  ye  call  on  Him  as  Father,  who  judgeth.'^ 
Then  the  element  of  holy  sovereignty  must  be 
a  cardinal  content  in  our  conception  of  the 
Fatherhood  of  God.  What  does  the  term 
"  Father  "  immediately  suggest  to  me  ?  Good 
nature  or  holiness ;  laxity  or  righteousness ;  a 
hearthstone  or  a  great  white  throne  ?  The 
primary  element  in  my  conception  will  deter- 
mine the  quality  of  my  religious  life.  If  the 
holiness  of  Fatherhood  be  minimised  or  obscured, 
every  other  attribute  will  be  impoverished. 
Denude  your  conception  of  holiness,  and  it  is 
like  withdrawing  the  ozone  from  the  invigora- 
ting air,  or  detracting  the  freshening  salt  from 
the  healthy  sea.  Suppress  or  ignore  the  element 
of  holiness,  and  think  of  the  Father  as  affection- 
ate, and  the  love   that  you  attribute  to  Him 


CHAPTER   I.    17-21  47 

will  be  only  as  a  close  and  enervating  air. 
Love  without  holiness  is  deoxygenated,  and  its 
ministry  is  that  of  an  opiate  or  narcotic.  Pity 
without  holiness  is  a  bloodless  sentiment  desti- 
tute of  all  healing  efficiency.  Forgiveness 
without  holiness  is  the  granting  of  a  cheap  and 
superficial  excuse,  in  which  there  is  nothing  of 
the  saving  strength  of  sacrifice.  Begin  with 
pity  or  forgiveness,  or  forbearance  or  gentleness, 
and  you  have  dispositions  without  dynamics, 
poor  limp  things,  which  afford  no  resource  for 
the  upUfting  and  salvation  of  the  race.  But 
begin  with  holiness,  and  you  put  a  dynamic  into 
every  disposition  which  makes  it  an  engine 
of  spiritual  health.  Forgiveness  with  holiness 
behind  it  is  a  medicated  sentiment,  fraught  with 
healing  and  bracing  ministry.  Gentleness  with 
holiness  behind  it  touches  the  aches  and  sores 
of  the  world  with  the  firm  and  delicate  hand 
of  a  discerning  and  experienced  nurse.  Exalt 
the  element  of  holiness,  and  you  enrich  your 
entire  conception  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God. 
The  "  river  of  water  of  life  "  flows  "  out  of  the 
throne."  "  The  Father  who  judgeth."  "  Our 
Father,  halloived  be  Thy  name." 

And  now  the  apostle  proceeds  to  tell  us  how 
his  conception  of  the  holiness  of  God  is  fostered 
and  enriched.  "Wherever  he  turns  it  is  God's 
holiness,  and  not  God's  pity,  which  smites  and 


48    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

arrests  his  attention.  He  is  never  permitted  to 
become  irreverent,  for  lie  is  never  out  of  sight 
of  "the  great  white  throne."  He  moves  in 
fruitful  wonder,  ever  contemplating  the  glory 
of  the  burning  holiness  of  God.  If  he  meditates 
upon  the  character  of  the  Father's  judgments, 
it  is  their  holiness  by  which  he  is  possessed. 
If  he  moves  with  breathless  steps  amid  the 
mysteries  of  redemption,  even  beneath  the 
blackness  of  the  cross  he  discovers  the  white- 
ness of  the  throne.  If  he  dwells  upon  the 
purposes  of  the  Divine  yearning,  it  is  the  holi- 
ness of  the  Father's  ambition  for  His  children 
which  holds  him  entranced.  The  holiness  of 
the  Father  emerges  everywhere.  It  is  expressed 
and  placarded  in  all  His  doings.  Everywhere 
could  the  apostle  take  upon  his  lips  the  words 
of  another  wondering  spirit  who  gazed  and 
worshipped  in  a  far-off  day  :  "I  saw  the  Lord, 
high  and  lifted  up!  Holy,  holy,  holy  is  the 
Lord." 

The  Father^  ivho  without  respect  of  persons 
judgeth  according  to  each  man's  ivork"  The 
apostle  finds  the  holiness  of  the  Father  ex- 
pressed in  the  character  of  His  judgments. 
The  elements  which  so  commonly  shape  the 
judgments  of  men  do  not  count  in  the  judg- 
ments of  God.  He  judgeth  ''without  respect 
of   persons."      Fine   feathers   do   not   count   as 


# 

CHAPTER   I.    17-21  49 

refinement.  Faces  may  be  masks.  Tlie  "  per- 
sona "  may  be  an  actor.  The  Father  pays  no 
respect  to  the  mere  show  of  things.  All  masks 
become  transparent.  All  veils  become  trans- 
lucent. The  material  show,  with  all  ephemeral 
titles,  and  nobilities,  and  dignities,  and  degrees, 
are  not  accepted  as  evidence,  but  are  put  down, 
and  only  spiritual  characteristics  and  moral 
essentials  are  permitted  as  testimony  of  personal 
worth.  *'  The  Father,  without  respect  of 
persons,  judgeth  according  to  each  man's  luorky  Verse  17 
And  what  is  the  bulk  and  quality  of  my  luork  ? 
If  the  Father  judge  me  by  my  output  in  the 
shape  of  finished  and  realised  achievement, 
then  I  shrink  from  the  wretched  unveiling !  I 
have  laboured  for  the  salvation  of  men ;  how 
will  He  judge  my  "work"?  Will  He  tabulate 
the  results  ?  Will  He  count  my  converts  ?  Is 
that  how  James  Gilmour  will  be  judged,  who 
after  long  years  of  labour  in  Mongolia  could 
not  record  a  single  regenerated  soul  ?  If 
"  work "  means  finished  results,  how  few  of  us 
wiU  be  crowned !  "  This  is  the  work,  that  ye 
believe."  That  is  the  basis  of  judgment.  How 
much  of  holy  energy  is  expressed  in  our 
relationship  to  God  ?  What  is  the  strength  of 
our  fellowship  with  the  Divine?  That  is  the 
primal  energy  of  character,  and  that  is  the 
criterion  of  the  Divine  judgment.     Out  of  that 


50    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

energy  of  belief  there  is  bom  the  magnificent 
force  which  expresses  itself  in  prolonged  labours 
in  Mongolia,  in  fearless  pioneering  in  New 
Guinea,  in  unromantic,  educational  ministry  in 
India,  in  plucky,  unyielding  struggle  with  great 
evils  in  England,  in  tiring,  unapplauded  toil 
among  the  poor,  in  dry  and  heart-breaking 
service  among  the  rich,  in  steady,  persistent 
battle  with  "  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil." 
All  these  toils  are  the  offspring  of  belief.  In 
the  energy  of  belief  they  find  their  life  and  the 
secret  of  their  dauntless  perseverance.  And  so 
James  Gilmour  will  not  be  judged  by  his 
"  results,"  but  by  his  "  bloody  sweat."  He  will 
be  judged,  and  so  shall  we  all,  by  the  suppli- 
cating wrestle  of  the  heart,  by  the  quality  of 
our  aspiration,  by  the  depth  and  fervour  of  our 
belief.  In  this  type  and  character  of  judgment 
the  apostle  sees  the  mark  of  the  holiness  of 
God.  "  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand 
before  God,"  and  the  Father  judged  them 
"  according  to  each  man's  work."  "  I  remember 
thy  work  of  faiths 

The  apostle  now  turns  to  another  expression 
of  the  holiness  of  the  Father,  and  he  finds  it 
in  the  character  of  our  redemption.  "  Knowing 
Verses  that,"  reflecting  that,  "  ye  were  redeemed^  not  with 
corruptible  things  .  .  .  hut  with  'precious  bloody  as 
of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot^  even 


18.  19 


CHAPTER   I.    17-21  51 

the  blood  of  Christy  Now,  link  to  this  a  previous 
word  which  forms  a  vital  part  of  the  apostle's 
reasoning.  "I  am  holy."  He  immediately 
unites  the  conception  of  holiness  with  the 
ministry  of  redemption.  To  keep  that  holiness 
in  mind  I  am  to  reflect  upon  the  character  of 
redemption.  I  am  to  gaze  into  the  mysterious 
depths  of  redemption,  and  I  shall  behold  the 
holiness  of  my  Father.  Now,  that  is  not  our 
common  inclination.  We  look  into  redemption 
for  mercy,  forgiveness,  condescension,  love. 
We  look  for  the  genial  flame  of  aflection  ;  have 
we  been  blind  to  the  dazzling  blaze  of  holiness? 
We  have  felt  the  warm,  yearning  intimacy  of 
love,  inclining  towards  the  sinner;  have  we 
felt  the  fierce,  burning  heat  where  holiness 
touches  sin  ? 

Eedemption  is  more  than  the  search  of 
Father  for  child ;  it  is  a  tremendous  wrestle  of 
holiness  with  sin.  Have  we  felt  only  the 
tenderness  of  the  search,  and  partially  over- 
looked the  terribleness  of  the  conflict  ?  The 
fear  is  that  we  may  feel  the  geniality  of  the  one 
without  experiencing  the  consuming  heat  of 
the  other.  I  proclaim  it  as  a  modern  peril. 
We  do  not  open  our  eyes  to  the  holiness  that 
battles  in  our  redemption,  and  so  we  gain  only 
an  enervated  conception  of  redemptive  love. 
Is  not  this   a   characteristic   of    many   of    the 


52     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

popular  hymns  wMcli  gather  round  about  the 
facts  of  redemption  ?  They  are  sweet,  senti- 
mental, almost  gushing ;  the  light,  lilting  songs 
of  a  thoughtless  courtship  :  deep  in  their  depths 
I  discern  no  sense  of  bloody  conflict,  nor  do  I 
taste  any  tang  of  the  bitter  cup  which  made 
our  Saviour  shrink.  And  so,  because  we  do  not 
discern  the  majestic  crusade  of  holiness,  we  do 
not  realise  the  enormity  of  sin.  If  we  look  into 
the  mystery  of  redemption,  and  do  not  see  the 
august  holiness  of  God,  we  can  never  see  the 
blackness  of  the  sovereignty  of  sin.  Dim  your 
sense  of  holiness,  and  you  lighten  the  colour  of 
sin.  Now  see  what  follows.  Obscure  the  holi- 
ness and  you  relieve  the  blackness  of  sin. 
Relieve  the  blackness  of  sin  and  jou  impoverish 
the  glory  of  redemption.  The  more  we  lighten 
sin  the  more  we  uncrown  our  Redeemer.  If 
sin  be  a  light  thing,  the  Redeemer  was  super- 
fluous. And  so,  with  holiness  hidden  and  sin 
relieved,  we  come  to  hold  a  cheap  redemption, 
and  it  is  against  the  conception  of  a  cheap 
redemption  that  the  apostle  raises  an  eager  and 
urgent  warning — "  There  was  nothing  cheap 
about  your  redemption.  It  was  not  a  light 
ministry  which  cost  a  mere  trifle.  Ye  were 
redeemed,  not  with  corruptible  things,  as  silver 
and  gold,  but  with  precious  blood,  even  the 
blood  of  Christ."      Reason  from  the    cost   of 


CHAPTER   I.    17-21  63 

redemption  to  the  nature  of  the  conflict; 
reason  from  the  nature  of  the  conflict  to  the 
black  enormity  of  sin ;  reason  from  the  enormity 
of  sin  to  the  glory  of  holiness  !  A  lax  God 
could  have  given  us  licence  and  so  redeemed  us 
cheaply !  A  cheap  redemption  might  have 
made  us  feel  easy ;  it  would  never  have  made 
us  good.  A  cheap  forgiveness  would  only  have 
confirmed  the  sin  it  forgave.  If  we  are  to  see 
sin  we  must  behold  holiness,  unveiled  for  us  as 
in  a  "  lamb  tvithout  blemish  and  without  spot^  verse  19 
And  so  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  the  apostle 
discerns  something  of  the  holiness  of  the 
Father,  and  thus  apprehends  the  unspeakable 
antagonism  of  holiness  and  sin.  To  him  redemp- 
tion is  more  than  a  search ;  it  "is  a  confiict.  It 
is  more  than  a  tender  yearning ;  it  is  the  mighty 
bearing  of  an  appalling  load.  Between  the 
Incarnation,  when  Christ  wa^s  manifested^  and  the 
Resurrection,  when  God  raised  Him.  from,  the  dead, 
the  powers  of  holiness  and  sin  met  face  to  face 
in  mighty  combat,  and  in  the  appalling  darkness 
of  Gethsemane  and  Calvary  sin  was  overthrown 
and  holiness  was  glorified.  "When  I  move  amid 
the  mysteries  of  redemption,  I  never  want  to 
become  deaf  to  my  Saviour's  words,  "If  it  be 
possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  Me."  I  never 
want  His  cry  to  go  out  of  my  life,  "  My  God, 
My  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me  ? "    So 


54    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

long  as  that  cry  sounds  througli  the  rooms  of 
my  life  I  can  never  have  a  cheap  Redeemer, 
and  I  shall  be  kept  from  the  enervating  in- 
fluence of  a  cheap  redemption.  In  redemption 
I  behold  an  unspeakable  conflict  which  keeps 
me  ever  in  mind  of  the  holiness  of  the  Father- 
hood of  God.  In  my  conception  of  redemption 
there  shall  be  "  no  curse,"  nothing  withering 
and  destructive,  for  'Hhe  throne  of  God  and 
the  Lamb  shall  be  in  it."  In  the  sacrifice  of 
love  I  shall  behold  the  holiness  of  God. 

Out  of  this  large  conception  of  a  holy  Father- 
hood there  will  arise  a  worthy  conception  of 
sonship.  If  God  be  holy,  expressing  His 
holiness  in  all  His  dealings,  and  "if  ye  call  on 
Him  as  Father,"  what  manner  of  children  ought 
ye  to  be  ?  If  I  call  the  holy  God  "  my  Father," 
the  assumption  of  kinship  implies  obligation  to 
holiness.  If  I  say  "  Father,"  I  may  not  ignore 
holiness.  "  If  God  were  your  father,"  ye  would 
bear  His  likeness.  "  Ye  shall  be  holy ;  for  I  am 
holy."  If  then  ye  call  on  Him  as  "Father," 
put  yourselves  in  the  way  of  appropriating  His 
glory,  and  of  becoming  radiant  with  the  beauty 
Verse  17  of  His  holiness  :  "  pass  the  time  of  your  sojourn- 
ing in  fear^  There  is  no  suggestion  in  the 
counsel  of  any  enslaving  timidity.  We  are  not 
to  cringe  like  slaves,  or  to  move  as  though  we 
expected  that  at  any  moment  an  abyss  might 


CHAPTER   I.    17-21  55 

open  at  our  feet.  The  Christian's  walk  is  a  fine 
swinging  step,  born  of  hope  and  happy  con- 
fidence. To  "  pass  the  time  in  fear  "  is  not  to 
move  in  paralysing  dread.  Nor  is  it  to  be  the 
victim  of  a  paralysing  particularity  which  con- 
verts every  trifle  into  a  thorn,  and  makes  the 
way  of  life  a  via  dolorosa  of  countless 
irritations.  The  Christian  is  neither  a  faddist 
nor  a  slave.  To  "  pass  the  time  in  fear  "  is  just 
to  be  fearful  of  sleep,  to  watch  against  indiffer- 
ence, to  be  alert  against  an  insidious  thought- 
lessness, to  be  spiritually  awake  and  to  miss  no 
chance  of  heightening  the  purity  of  our  souls 
by  all  the  ministries  of  holy  fellowships,  and  by 
a  ready  obedience  to  the  Master's  will.  "  If  ye 
call  on  Him  as  Father,"  let  the  majestic  claim 
inspire  you  to  a  spacious  ambition :  "  pass 
your  time  "in  a  fervent  aspiration  after  His 
likeness,  "  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear  of  the 
Lord." 


THE  CREATION  OF  CULTUEE  AND 
AFFECTION 

1  Petek  i.  22-25 

Seeing  ye  have  purified  your  souls  in  your  obedience  to 
the  truth  unto  unfeigned  love  of  the  brethren^  love  one  another 
from  a  clean  heart  fervently :  having  been  begotten  again, 
not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  through  the  word 
of  God,  which  liveth  and  abideth.  For,  All  flesh  is  as  grass, 
and  all  the  glory  thereof  as  the  flower  of  grass.  The  grass 
withereth,  and  the  flower  folleth  :  but  the  word  of  the  Lord 
abideth  for  ever. 

In  the  very  heart  of  this  passage  there  lies  a 
fair  and  exquisite  flower — the  flower  of  an  in- 
tense and  fervent  affection.  Its  surroundings 
reveal  to  us  the  means  of  its  production.  The 
earlier  clauses  of  the  passage  describe  the  mode 
of  its  growth ;  the  later  clauses  describe  the 
cause  of  its  growth.  The  first  part  is  descriptive 
of  the  rootage  and  the  preliminary  life  of  the 
flower  of  love;  the  second  part  proclaims  the 
all-enswathing  atmosphere  in  which  growth  is 
rendered  possible  and  sure.  On  the  one  hand, 
there  are  revealed  to  us  the  successive  and  pro- 
gressive stages  of  spiritual  culture ;  on  the  other 
hand,  we  are  introduced  to  the   ail-pervading 

66 


CHAPTER   I.    22-25  57 

power  which  determines  their  evolution.  The 
earlier  part  centres  round  about  "  obedience  " ; 
the  latter  part  gathers  round  about  "  the  word 
of  God."  The  first  half  emphasises  the  human ; 
the  second  half  emphasises  the  Divine.  The 
human  and  the  Divine  combine  and  co-operate, 
and  in  their  mingled  ministry  create  the  sweet 
and  unpolluted  flower  of  love.  Verse  22 

"  Love  one  another  from  a  clean  heart  fervently. ^^ 
How  can  I  grow  this  sweet,  white  flower  of 
love  ?  Its  creation  is  not  the  immediate  result 
of  volition ;  it  is  the  issue  of  a  process.  We 
cannot  command  it ;  we  can  grow  it.  It  is  not 
an  "  alpha  "  but  an  "  omega,"  the  "  amen  "  in  a 
spiritual  succession.  If  I  want  the  flower,  I 
must  begin  at  the  root.  If  I  want  the  love,  I 
must  begin  with  obedience.  The  first  stage 
towards  a  fervent  affection  is  "  obedience  to  the 
truth.^^  If  a  soul  yearns  to  be  crowned  and 
beautified  by  the  grace  of  a  delicate  love,  it 
must  put  itself  in  the  posture  of  "  obedience  to 
the  truth."  Ay,  but  what  is  this  truth  to  which 
we  are  to  pay  obeisance  ?  Just  as  I  penned 
the  question,  the  sun,  which  had  been  concealed 
behind  a  cloud,  broke  from  its  hiding,  and  a 
broad,  wealthy  tide  of  light  flowed  over  the 
garden,  and  revealed  the  young  leaves  in  re- 
splendent glory.  The  word  "  tree  "  obtains  a 
new  significance  when  you  see   the   branches 


68     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

swaying  in  the  golden  light.  It  is  even  so 
with  the  familiar  word  "  truth."  To  one  man 
the  word  is  suggestive  of  a  dim,  dull,  cloudy 
quantity,  having  little  or  nothing  of  arresting 
radiance  or  beauty.  To  another  man  "truth" 
is  a  gloriously  unclouded  light,  suggesting  the 
hallowed  beauty  of  the  eternal  God.  What  do 
we  mean  by  the  term  "hill"?  That  depends 
upon  where  we  have  lived.  The  word  "hill" 
has  one  significance  at  Snowdon,  another  at 
Ben  Nevis,  another  at  Mont  Blanc,  and  another 
amid  the  gigantic  heights  of  Northern  India. 
"What  do  we  mean  by  "  the  truth "  ?  Where 
have  we  lived  f  The  apostle  has  not  used  the 
word  "  truth  "  before.  He  seems  to  have  kept 
it  in  abeyance  until  by  some  preliminary  thought 
he  has  prepared  our  minds  to  give  it  adequate 
content.  He  has  been  leading  us  through  a 
pilgrimage  of  contemplation,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  journey  he  utters  the  word  "  truth,"  and 
if  we  would  enter  into  his  conception  we  must 
pack  the  word  with  the  experiences  of  the 
previous  way.  We  have  been  peering  into 
the  Fatherhood  of  God.  The  apostle  has  been 
pointing  out  to  us  elements  which  we  were 
inclined  to  forget.  We  looked  into  the  Father- 
hood for  sweetness ;  He  pointed  out  whiteness. 
We  looked  for  gentleness;  He  pointed  out 
holiness.  We  looked  for  tender  yearnings  towards 


CHAPTER   I.    22-25  59 

the  sinner ;  He  would  not  permit  us  to  overlook 
the  Divine  hostility  to  sin.  Wherever  the 
apostle  turns  in  the  contemplation  of  the  Father- 
hood, it  is  the  "whiteness"  that  arrests  him. 
He  looks  into  the  Father's  judgments,  and  he 
beholds  the  whiteness  of  holiness.  He  glances 
behind  the  veil  into  the  mysteries  of  redemption, 
and  even  amid  the  sacrifices  of  love  he  beholds 
the  glory  of  "  the  great  white  throne."  "Wher- 
ever he  turns  his  wondering  gaze,  it  is  the 
perception  of  a  character  "  without  blemish  and 
without  spot "  that  brings  him  to  his  knees. 
"When,  therefore,  we  emerge  from  the  solemn 
sight-seeing,  as  we  do  in  the  twenty-second 
verse,  and  I  hear  the  apostle  use  the  word 
"truth,"  I  know  that  he  inserts  into  the  word 
the  content  of  superlative  whiteness,  and  that 
while  he  uses  it  he  bows  before  the  holiness  of 
the  Fatherhood  of  God.  Here,  then,  we  must 
begin  the  culture  of  affection.  We  must  begin 
with  the  contemplation  of  whitenesss,  with  a 
steady,  steadfast  gazing  upon  the  holiness  of 
the  Fatherhood  of  God.  We  must  let  holiness 
tower  in  our  conception  of  God,  as  the  dazzling 
snow  abides  on  the  lifted  heights  of  the  Alps. 
The  "truth"  is  the  unveiled  face  of  the  Holy 
Father.  The  first  step  in  the  creation  of  pure 
affection  is  the  contemplation  of  a  Holy  God. 
The   apostle  uses  a  very   graphic    word    to 


60    THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

further  describe  the  healthy  pose  of  a  soul  in 
reference  to  "the  truth."  We  are  to  be  in 
^^  obedience  to  the  truth."  There  is  a  stoop  in 
the  word.  It  is  a  kneeling  at  attention.  It  is  an 
eager  inclining  of  the  ear  to  catch  the  whisper 
of  the  Holy  God.  But  it  is  more  than  that.  It  is 
the  attention  of  a  soul  that  is  girt  and  ready  for 
service.  The  wings  are  plumed  for  ministering 
flight.  It  is  a  listening,  for  the  purpose  of  a 
doing.  "  Whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of 
Mine  and  doeth  them."  It  is  a  soul  waiting  con- 
sciously and  eagerly  upon  the  Holy  Father  with 
the  intent  of  hearing  and  doing  His  will.  This  is 
"  obedience  to  the  truth,"  and  this  is  the  prelimi- 
nary step  in  the  creation  and  culture  of  God. 

Now,  let  us  pass  to  the  vital  succession 
described  in  the  text.  We  enter  a  second  stage 
Verse  22  of  this  progressive  gradation.  "  Ye  have  purified 
your  souls  in  your  obedience  to  the  truth." 
While  ye  were  doing  the  one,  ye  were  accom- 
plishing the  other.  Obedience  to  truth  is  the 
agent  of  spiritual  perfection.  Homage  to  holi- 
ness is  the  minister  of  refinement.  To  bow  to 
the  august  is  to  enlarge  the  life.  "  He  that 
humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted."  To  listen 
in  waiting  attention  for  the  expression  of  the 
will  of  holiness  is  to  fill  the  life  with  cleansing 
and  refining  ministry.  We  bleach  our  fabrics 
by  exposing  them  to  the  Ught.      We  whiten 


CHAPTER   I.    22-25  61 

our    spiritual    garments    by    dwelling    in    the 
hallowed    glory    of    the    Light    of   Life.      We 
"  purify  our  souls  "   by  our  "  obedience  to  the 
truth."      We   jpurify  them.      We    make    them 
chaste  in  all  the  varied  meaning  of  that  wealthy 
word.       We    rid    them    of    secret   defilements, 
washing   quite    out   of    the   grain   the   soaking 
filth  of  selfishness  and  of  impure  ambition.     We 
free  them  of  all  the  uncouthness,  the  rudeness, 
and  the  rough  discourtesies  of  the  unhallowed 
life.     We  deliver  them  from  the  meretricious, 
the  tawdry  graces  that  are  made  to  do  duty  for 
the  fair  realities  of  the  sanctified  life.     The  soul 
is    made    grandly    simple,    endowed    with    the 
winsome  naturalness  and  grace  of  an  unaffected 
child.    This  is  the  way  of  the  eternal.    When  we 
dwell  in  the  light,  the  powers  of  the  soul  are  being 
rarefied,  touched,  and  moulded  into  ever  finer 
discernments.     The  organic  quality  of  the  life  is 
enriched,  and  possibilities  awakened  of  which  we 
hardly  dreamed.    We  transform  our  spiritual  sub- 
stance when  we  change  our  spiritual  posture.    We 
''  purify  our  souls  by  our  obedience  to  the  truth." 
Now,  mark  the  next  stage  in  this  brightening 
sequence.  "Ye  have  purified  your  souls  .  .  .  unto 
unfeigned  love.''     We  are  rising  into  finer  issues,  ^'erse  22 
We   have    passed   from   hallowed   obedience  to 
purified  spirit,  and  now  we  go  on  to  unfeigned 
affection !     The  rarest  issue  of  the  rose-tree  is 


62     THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

the  perfume  of  the  rose.     From  root  to  perfume 
you   ascend   a   gradation   of   increasing    refine- 
ments until  you  come  to  its  subtle  and  bewitch- 
ing  breath.      And  here  in   my  text  we   have 
arrived  at  the  sphere  of  fragrance,   the  realm 
of  sentiment,  the  haunt  of  affection.     "Ye  have 
purified  your   souls  .  .  .  unto  unfeigned  love." 
Mark  the  directive  force   of  the  preposition — 
"purified unto  love  "  ;  as  though  the  purification 
of  the   soul  made   straight,   as  by  a  gracious 
destiny,  for  the  birth   and  revelation   of  love. 
The  spirit  can  be  so  chastened,  so   refined  by 
"  obedience  to  the  truth,"  that  love  will  emerge 
from    it    as    naturally    and    spontaneously    as 
perfume  distils  from  a  rose.     "  He  that  hath  my 
commandments  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is  that 
loveth  !  "     He  cannot  help  loving  ;  his  love  is  a 
spontaneous    affiuence,   and    he    can    no   more 
restrain    it    than    the   rose   can    imprison    her 
fragrance  when   she   is   tossed  by   the   playful 
breeze.     A  fine  sentiment  is  the  offspring  of  a 
fine  spirit.     The  posture  of  the  soul  determines 
the   quality   of    the    disposition.      If   the    soul 
"  live   and  move  and  have   her  being "  in  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Father,  revealed  in  Christ 
our  Saviour,  and  shape  her  course  in  "  obedience 
to  the  truth,"  she  will  be  sublimed,  and  all  her 
ministries  will  be  attended  by  a  gracious  affec- 
tion,  diffusing  itself    as    fragrance    about    the 


CHAPTER   I.    22-25  63 

common  ways  of  men.     "  Ye  have  purified  your 
soul  unto  unfeigned  love  of  the  brethren." 

But  now  it  may  occasion  a  little  surprise 
that,  having  reached  this  apparent  climax  in 
the  thought,  the  affluence  of  a  spontaneous 
affection,  the  apostle  should  add  the  injunction, 
"  love  one  another  from  a  clean  heart  fervently  I  "  Verse  22 
What  is  the  purpose  of  the  apparently  needless 
addition?  We  have  watched  the  ascending 
stages  in  the  spiritual  processes  that  issue  in 
love ;  what  if  there  are  ascending  stages  in 
the  refinement  of  love  itseK?  There  may  be 
degrees  of  riches  even  in  perfumes.  Even  love 
itself  may  be  refined  into  more  and  more 
exquisite  quality.  That,  I  think,  is  the  meaning 
of  the  apostle's  counsel.  He  urges  them  to 
seek  for  the  superlative  in  the  sweet  kingdom 
of  love,  ever  to  set  their  minds  on  ''  the  things 
above,"  and  to  fix  their  yearnings  upon  still 
finer  issues.  We  get  a  clear  gHmpse  into  the 
apostle's  mind  through  the  vivid  word  in  which 
he  urges  the  counsel,  '^  love  one  another  .  .  . 
fervently. ^^  There  is  a  suggestion  of  increased 
tension  in  the  word,  as  when  the  string  of  a 
violin  has  been  stretched  to  a  tighter  pitch  that 
it  might  yield  a  higher  note.  That  is  the 
apostle's  figure — a  little  more  tension,  that  you 
may  reach  a  little  higher  note.  There  are 
heights  of  love  unreached.     Tighten  the  strings 


64    THE  FmST  EPISTLE  OE  PETER 

of  your  devotion,  that  your  soul  may  yield  the 
entrancing  strains.  Be  vigilant  against  all 
laxity,  and  stretch  yourselves  to  the  uttermost 
in  the  endeavour  to  compass  the  manifold  music 
of  the  marvellous  scales  of  love.  When,  there- 
fore, the  apostle  enjoins  a  more  fervent  love, 
I  feel  that  he  drives  me  back  to  the  first  pre- 
liminary stage  of  spiritual  growth.  When  he 
appeals  for  higher  notes  of  love,  he  is  really 
counselling  a  deeper  holiness.  If  my  love  is  to 
be  more  intense,  I  must  seek  a  "  closer  walk 
with  Grod."  I  must  tighten  my  holiness  if  I 
would  enrich  my  music.  There  will  come  a 
more  discerning  love  when  there  is  a  more 
devoted  obedience.  I  shall  pass  from  finer 
homage  to  rarer  spiritual  purity,  and  from  rarer 
spiritual  purity  to  increasing  exquisiteness  in 
love.  "  Seeing  you  have  purified  your  souls  in 
your  obedience  to  the  truth  unto  unfeigned 
love  of  the  brethren,  love  one  another  from  a 
clean  heart  fervently." 

How  can  we  depend  upon  this  succession  in 
the  processes?  How  can  we  be  assured  that 
one  stage  will  lead  to  another  in  inevitable 
spiritual  gradation  ?  What  is  the  nature  of  the 
bond  and  the  quality  of  the  guarantee  ?  What 
is  our  assurance  that  "  obedience  to  truth  "  will 
issue  in  chaste  refinement  of  spirit,  and  that 
spiritual  refinement  will  be  crowned  by  a  rare 


CHAPTER,   I.    22-25  65 

and  fervent  affection?  The  basis  of  our  reli- 
ance is  "  the  word  of  God^  It  was  through  Verse  23 
the  word  of  God  there  was  given  to  us  the 
seed  of  a  regenerated  life.  We  were  "  begotten 
again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible^ 
through  the  word  of  God.^^  That  word,  through 
which  there  came  the  first,  faint  seminal  be- 
ginnings of  a  holy  life,  remaineth  sure  through 
all  the  stages  of  subsequent  growth.  We  may 
rely  upon  "  the  word  of  God."  It  "  liveth  and 
abidethj^^  an  energising  all-enveloping  atmo- 
sphere, in  which  the  beautiful  young  growth  will 
be  matured.  If  the  centre  of  love  depended 
upon  the  power  of  any  human  ministry,  the 
issue  would  assuredly  fail.  Our  dependence 
would  then  be  built  upon  a  thing  enduring  only 
through  a  transient  season.  Human  aid  is  but 
''  as  the  grass " ;  and  the  best  of  human  aid, 
the  very  glory  of  it,  only  as  ''  the  flower  of  grass.''  Verse  24 
In  the  fierce,  scorching  noontide,  the  time  of 
feverish  strain,  when  we  are  most  in  need  of 
enriching  rest,  "  the  grass  wither eth.,  and  the  flower 
fallethj"  and  there  is  barrenness  where  we 
yearned  to  find  a  soft  and  healing  peace.  No  ; 
not  upon  flesh  must  we  depend  for  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  spiritual  life.  *'  Our  hope  is  in 
God."  The  Lord  Himself  pervades  the  processes 
find  determines  the  line  of  ascending  growth. 
"  The  word  of  the  Lord  abideth  for  eve?\"  Verse  25 


THE  LIVING  STONES  AND  THE 
SPIRITUAL  HOUSE 

1  Petee  ii.  1-10 

Putting  away  therefore  all  wickedness^  and  all  guile,  and 
hypocrisies,  and  envies,  and  all  evil  speakings,  as  newborn 
babes,  long  for  the  spiritual  milk  which  is  without  guile, 
that  ye  may  grow  thereby  unto  salvation  ;  if  ye  have  tasted 
that  the  Lord  is  gracious :  unto  whom  coming,  a  living 
stone,  rejected  indeed  of  men,  but  with  God  elect,  precious, 
ye  also,  as  living  stones,  are  built  up  a  spiritual  house,  to  be 
a  holy  priesthood,  to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices,  acceptable 
to  God  through  Jesus  Christ.  Because  it  is  contained  in 
scripture.  Behold,  I  lay  in  Zion  a  chief  corner  stone,  electy 
precious :  and  he  that  believeth  on  Him  shall  not  be  put  to 
shame.  For  you  therefore  which  believe  is  the  preciousness  : 
hut  for  such  as  disbelieve.  The  stone  which  the  builders 
rejrcted,  the  same  was  made  the  head  of  the  corner ;  and, 
A  stone  of  stumbling,  and  a  rock  of  offence  ;  for  they  stumble 
at  the  word,  being  disobedient :  whereunto  also  they  were 
ap2>''inted.  But  ye  are  an  elect  race,  a  royal  j^rlesthood, 
a  holy  nation,  a  people  for  God^s  own  possession,  that  ye 
may  shew  forth  the  excellencies  of  Him  who  called  you  out 
of  darkness  into  His  marvellous  light :  which  in  time  past 
were  no  people,  but  now  are  the  people  of  God :  which  had 
not  obtained  mercy,  but  now  have  obtained  mercy. 

There  is  a  wonderful  ascending  gradation  in 
the  earlier  portions  of  this  great  chapter.  It 
begins  in  the  darkness,  amid  "  wickedness  "  and 

66 


CHAPTER  II.   1-10  67 

"  guile  "  and  *'  hypocrisies,"  and  it  winds  its  way 
through  the  wealthy,  refining  processes  of  grace, 
until  it  issues  in  the  '^marvellous  light"  of 
perfected  redemption.  It  begins  with  indi- 
viduals, who  are  possessed  by  uncleanness, 
holding  aloof  from  one  another  in  the  bondage 
of  "  guile  "  and  "  envies  "  and  ''  evil  speakings  "  ; 
it  ends  in  the  creation  of  glorious  families, 
sanctified  communities,  elect  races,  "  showing 
forth  the  excellencies  "  of  the  redeeming  Lord. 
"We  pass  from  the  corrupt  and  isolated  indi- 
vidual to  a  redeemed  and  perfected  fellowship. 
"We  begin  with  an  indiscriminate  heap  of  un- 
clean and  undressed  stones  ;  we  find  their  con- 
summation in  a  "  spiritual  house,"  standing 
consistent  and  majestic  in  the  light  of  the  glory 
of  God.  We  begin  with  scattered  units;  we 
end  with  co-operative  communions.  The  subject 
of  the  passage  is  therefore  clearly  defined.  It 
is  concerned  with  the  making  of  true  society, 
the  creation  of  spiritual  fellowship,  the  realisa- 
tion of  the  family,  the  welding  of  antagonistic 
units  into  a  pure  and  lovely  communion. 

Where  must  we  begin  in  the  creation  of  this 
communion  ?  The  building  of  the  house,  says 
the  apostle,  must  begin  in  the  preparation  of 
the  stones.  If  the  family  is  to  be  glorified,  the 
individual  must  be  purified.  A  choir  is  no 
richer  than  its  individual  voices,  and  if  we  wish 


68    THE  FmsT  EMSTLE  OF  PETER 

to  enricli  the  harmony  we  must  refine  the  con- 
stituent notes.  The  basis  of  all  social  reforma- 
tion is  individual  redemption.  And  so  I  am 
not  surprised  that  the  apostle,  who  is  contem- 
plating the  creation  of  beautified  brotherhoods, 
should  primarily  concern  himself  with  the  pre- 
paration of  the  individual.  But  how  are  the 
stones  to  be  cleaned  and  shaped  and  dressed 
for  the  house  ?  How  is  the  individual  to  be 
prepared?  By  what  spiritual  processes  is  he 
to  be  fitted  for  larger  fellowships  and  family 
communion?  I  think  the  apostle  gives  us  a 
threefold  answer. 

"jy  ye  have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious J^ 
That  is  the  basal  clause  of  the  entire  chapter. 
Everything  begins  here.  It  is  no  use  our 
dreaming  of  perfected  human  relationships 
until  the  individual  has  deliberately  tasted 
the  things  that  are  Divine.  A  chastened 
palate  in  the  individual  is  a  primary  element 
in  the  consolidation  of  the  race.  There  must 
be  a  personal  experimenting  with  God.  There 
must  be  a  willingness  to  try  the  spiritual 
hygiene  enjoined  in  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  We 
must  "  taste  and  see  "  what  the  grace  is  like 
that  is  so  freely  offered  to  us  of  God.  We 
must  taste  it,  and  find  out  for  ourselves  its 
healthy  and  refreshing  flavour.  What  is  im- 
plied  in  the   apostle's   figure?     In   the    merely 


CHAPTER  11   1-10  69 

physical  realm,  when   we   taste   a  thing,  what 
are  the  implications  of  the  act  ?     When  we  take 
a   thing   up   critically   for  the   purpose  of   dis- 
cerning its  flavour,  there  are  at  any  rate  two 
elements    contained  in   the   method  of  our  ap- 
proach.     There  is   an   application    of   a   sense, 
and  there  is  the  exercise  of  the  judgment.     We 
bring    an    alertness    of    palate    that    we    may 
register  sensitive  perceptions,  and  we  bring  an 
alertness  of  mind  that  we  may  exercise  a  dis- 
criminating judgment.    Well,  these  two  elements 
are   only   symbolic   of    the    equipment   that    is 
required    if    we    would     *'  taste    and    see    how 
gracious  the  Lord  is."     We  need  to  present  to 
the  Lord  a  sensitive  sense  and  a  vigilant  mind. 
There  is  no  word  which  is  read  so  drowsily  as 
the   Word   of   God.      There   is   no    business   so 
sluggishly  executed  as  the  business  of  prayer. 
If  men  would  discern  the  secret  flavours  of  the 
Gospel,  they  must  come  to  it  wide  awake,  and 
sensitively  search  for  the   conditions  by  which 
its  hidden  wealth  may  be  disclosed.     "  Son  of 
man,  eat  that  thou  findest.  .  .  .  Then  did  I  eat 
it,  and  it  was  in  my  mouth  as  honey  for  sweet- 
ness."    He   had   tasted   and   seen.      "  Eat  that 
thou  findest !  "     Well,  the   only  way  in  which 
we  can  eat  a  message  is  to  obey  it.     Obedience 
is   spiritual    consumption ;    and    in    the    act   of 
obedience,  in  the  act  of  consumption,  we  discern 


70    THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

the  wondrous  flavours  of  grace.  We  are,  there- 
fore, to  approach  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord.  We 
are  to  patiently  and  sensitively  realise  its  con- 
ditions. We  are  to  put  ourselves  in  the  attitude 
of  obedience,  and,  retaining  a  bright  and  wake- 
ful mind,  we  shall  begin  to  discern  the  glories 
of  our  redemption.  We  shall  taste  the  flavour  of 
reconciliation,  the  fine  grace  of  forgiveness,  and 
the  exquisite  quality  of  peace.  This  is  the  primary 
step  in  the  creation  of  the  family ;  the  individual 
is  to  taste  and  appreciate  the  things  of  God. 

All  delights  imply  repulsions.  All  likes  necessi- 
tate dislikes.  ^  strong  taste  for  God  implies  a 
strong  distaste  for  the  ungodly.  The  more  refined 
my  taste,  the  more  exacting  becomes  my  standard. 
The  more  I  appreciate  God,  the  more  shall  I  de- 
preciate the  godless.  I  do  not  wonder,  therefore, 
that  in  the  chapter  before  us  the  "  tasting "  of 
Verse  1  grace  is  accompanied  by  a  ^^ putting  aiuay^'  of 
sin.  If  I  welcome  the  one,  I  shall  ^^  therefore  ^^ 
repel  the  other.  The  finer  my  taste,  the  more 
scrupulous  will  be  my  repulsions.  Mark  the 
ascending  refinement  in  this  black  catalogue 
of  expulsions :  "  wickedness^  guile^  hypocrisies^ 
envies,  evil  speakings  I "  The  list  ranges  from 
thick,  soddened,  compact  wickedness  up  to  un- 
kindly speech,  and  I  am  so  to  grow  in  my  Divine 
appreciation  that  I  just  as  strongly  repel  the 
gilded  forms  of  sin  as  I  do  those  that  savour  of 


CHAPTER  II.   1-10  71 

the  exposed  and  noisome  sewer.  The  taste  of 
grace  implies  the  ''  putting  away "  of  sin ;  and 
therefore  the  second  step  in  the  creation  of  the 
family  is  the  cleansing  of  the  individual.  Is 
the  cleansing  essential  ?  Let  us  lay  this  down 
as  a  primary  axiom  in  the  science  of  life — there 
can  be  no  vital  communion  between  the  unclean. 
Why,  we  cannot  do  a  bit  of  successful  soldering 
unless  the  surfaces  we  wish  to  solder  are 
vigorously  scraped  of  all  their  filth.  I  suppose 
that,  in  the  domain  of  surgery,  one  of  the 
greatest  discoveries  of  the  last  fifty  years  has 
been  the  discovery  of  dirt,  and  the  influence 
which  it  has  exercised  as  the  minister  of  sever- 
ance and  alienation.  It  has  been  found  to  be 
the  secret  cause  of  inflammation,  the  hidden 
agent  in  retarded  healing,  the  subtle  worker  in 
embittered  wounds ;  and  now  surgical  science 
insists  that  all  its  operations  be  performed  in 
the  most  scrupulous  cleanliness,  and  its  intensi- 
fied vigilance  has  been  rewarded  by  pure  and 
speedy  healings  and  communions.  It  is  not 
otherwise  in  the  larger  science  of  life.  Every 
bit  of  uncleanness  in  the  individual  is  a  barrier 
to  family  communion.  All  dirt  is  the  servant  of 
alienation.  It  is  essential,  if  we  would  have  strong 
and  intimate  fellowships,  that  every  member 
be  sweet  and  clean.  "Therefore  put  away  all 
wickedness,  and  all  guile,  and  hypocrisies,  and 


72     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

envies  and  all  evil  speakings,"  and  by  purified 
surfaces  let  us   prepare  ourselves  for  spiritual 
communion. 
Verse  2      ''  As  netvbom  babes,  long  for  the  spiritual  milky 
Having  tasted  of  the  grace  of   the   Lord,  and 
freeing  yourselves  from  the  embittering  presence 
of  sin,  adopt   an  exacting  diet— '4ong  for  the 
spiritual  milk  which  is  without  guile^     Feed  upon 
the  loftiest  ideals.    Suffer  nothing  of  adulterating 
compromise  to  enter   into  your  spiritual  food. 
Nourish  yourselves  upon  aspirations  undefiled. 
Do  not  let  your  wine  be  mingled  with  water. 
Do  not  permit  any  dilution  from  the  suggestions 
of  the   world.      "  Long   for   the    spiritual   milk 
Verse  2  which  is  without  guile,  that  ye  may  grow  thereby 
unto   salvation:'      It  is  the  unadulterated  food 
that  ministers  to  growth.     It  is  the  high  ideal 
which  lifts  men  to  the  heights.     The  loftiness  of 
one's  aim  determines  the  degree  of  one's  growth. 
In   these   matters    my   spiritual    gravitation    is 
governed  by  my  personal  aspirations,  my  spirit 
pursues  the  path  and  gradient  of  my  desires. 

Here,  then,  is  the  threefold  preparation  of 
the  individual  for  a  family  life  of  intimate  and 
fruitful  fellowship— a  personal  experience  of 
grace,  the  expulsion  from  the  life  of  all  un- 
cleanness,  and  the  adoption  of  a  rigorous  and 
uncompromising  ideal.  The  whole  preparatory 
process  is  begun,  continued,  and  ended  in  Christ. 


CHAPTER  II.   1-10  73 

In  Christ  the  individual  is  lodged,  and  in  His 
grace,  which  is  all-sufficient,  he  finds  an  abun- 
dant equipment  for  the  spacious  purpose  of  his 
perfected  redemption. 

Now,  let  us  assume  that  the  individual  is  ready 
for  the  fellowship.  We  have  got  the  -unit  of 
the  family.  We  have  got  the  "living  stone," 
cleansed,  shaped,  dressed,  ready  to  be  built  into 
the  "  spiritual  house."  How,  now,  shall  the 
society  be  formed  ?  What  shall  be  its  cement  ? 
What  shall  be  its  binding  medium,  and  the 
secret  of  its  consistency  ?  Here  are  the  "  living 
stones";  what  shall  we  do  with  them?  "  [/"^if  o  Verses  4,  5 
ivhom  coming  ,  ,  ,  as  living  stones  ye  are 
built  up  a  spiritual  housed  "  Unto  whom 
coming  ! "  The  living  stones  are  to  find  their 
bond  of  union  in  the  living  Christ.  The  alpha 
of  all  enduring  communion  is  Christ.  We 
cannot  prepare  the  individual  stones  without 
Christ.  We  cannot  build  the  individual  stones 
into  a  house  without  Christ.  He  is  the  "  corner 
stone,"  and  the  pervading  strength  of  every 
enduring  structure.  What  is  the  implication  of 
all  this  ?  It  is  this.  We  cannot  have  society 
without  piety.  We  may  have  juxtapositions, 
connections,  clubs,  fleeting  and  superficial  re- 
lationships, but  the  only  enduring  brotherhood 
is  the  brotherhood  which  is  built  upon  faith. 
Apart  from  the  Christ  there  can  be  no  social 


74     THE  FIEST   EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

cohesion.  The  Word  of  God  proclaims  it,  and 
history  confirms  it.  Every  preposition  seems 
to  have  been  exhausted  by  the  Word  of  God 
in  emphasising  the  necessity  of  a  fundamental 
relationship  with  Christ — ''  in  Christ,"  "  through 
Christ,"  "by  Christ,"  "with  Christ,"  "unto 
Christ."  In  every  conceivable  way  Christ  is 
proclaimed  as  the  all-essential.  In  seeking  to 
create  societies  we  have  therefore  got  to  reckon 
with  the  Christ.  We  cannot  ignore  Him.  He 
will  not  be  ignored.  We  either  use  Him  or  we 
fall  over  Him.  We  use  Him  and  rise  into 
strength,  or  we  neglect  Him  and  stumble  into 
Verses  7, 8  ruin.  We  either  make  Him  the  "  head  of  the 
corner^^  or  He  becomes  our  "  stone  of  stumbling, 
and  a  rock  of  offence^  Societies  and  families  and 
nations,  which  are  not  built  upon  the  Christ,  fall 
to  pieces,  thrown  into  ruin  by  the  very  ''  law 
of  the  spirit  of  life."  But  have  not  societies 
been  built  upon  the  Christ,  and  yet  been  far 
from  manifesting  the  glory  of  a  radiant,  family 
communion  ?  Look  at  the  sects  !  Is  not  Christ 
the  corner  stone,  and  yet  where  is  the  sweet 
communion  ?  Ah !  it  is  when  the  different 
communities  have  got  away  from  the  Christ 
that  their  communion  has  been  destroyed.  It 
is  when  the  sects  get  away  from  the  spirit  of 
the  Christ,  when  they  become  wranglers  about 
a  letter,  when  they  are  heated  by  the  fever  of 


CHAPTER  II.   1-10  75 

personal  vanity,  and  lust  for  the  spoils  of 
sectarian  triumph — it  is  then  that  the  spiritual 
house  collapses,  and  lies  scattered  in  a  heap  of 
inhospitable  fragments.  But  when  we  build 
upon  Him,  when  He,  and  He  only,  is  "  the 
preciousness,"  when  all  our  personal  aims  are 
merged  in  line  with  His,  when  we  have  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  then  are  we  bound  into  a 
gracious  communion,  into  a  vital  and  funda- 
mental unity.  And  into  what  is  He  prepared 
to  build  us  ?  This  chapter  is  overflowing  in 
the  wealth  of  the  figures  by  which  it  seeks  to 
express  the  glorious  mission.  He  will  build  us 
into  a  ^^  spiritual  house^^^  a  spacious  home,  en- Verse  5 
closing  but  one  tenant,  the  gracious  Spirit  of 
God.  He  will  distinguish  us  as  "  an  elect  race^''^  Verse  9 
moving  in  the  world,  yet  not  of  it,  standing 
out  in  strong  relief  from  the  discordant  and 
fragmentary  life  by  which  it  is  surrounded. 
He  will  endow  us  with  all  the  dignities  of  "  a 
royal  priesthoods^  ^  having  kingly  and  priestly 
prerogatives,  reigning  with  Christ  in  the  realm 
of  the  spirit  and  exercising  a  powerful  ministry 
of  intercession  in  the  most  holy  presence  of  God. 
He  will  constitute  us  "  a  holy  nation,^^  a  people 
whose  policies  shall  be  purities,  and  whose  state- 
craft shall  just  be  the  enlightened  administration 
of  large  and  unselfish  minds.  This  is  what  our 
God  is  prepared  to  make  of  us.     It  is  a  great 


76    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

ideal,  but  then  we  have  a  great  Father  and 
a  great  Saviour  and  a  mighty  Spirit,  and  vast 
ideals  are  native  to  the  very  spirit  of  our  re- 
demption. It  is  a  grand  house  which  the  Lord 
would  build,  and  if  only  He  had  the  stones 
the  majestic  edifice  would  speedily  be  reared. 

And  what  is  to  be  the  mission  of  the  glorified 
fellowship  ?  If  even  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together,  by  common  possession  of  the  Spirit 
of  Christ,  into  a  sanctified  society,  what  purpose 
is  to  be  achieved  by  their  communion?  They 
Verse  9  are  to  '*  shew  forth  the  excellencies  of  Him  who 
called  them  o%d  of  darkness  into  His  marvellous 
lights  The  "  elect  race  "  will  be  distinguished 
by  its  cheeriness,  its  geniality,  its  radiant  sym- 
pathies, its  abounding  optimism.  It  will  be  of 
little  use  our  professing  that  we  are  "  called 
into  marvellous  light "  if  our  society  is  only  the 
home  of  controversy,  or  the  abode  of  a  brooding 
melancholy  and  depression.  The  redeemed 
society  is  composed  of  ''  children  of  light." 
Verse  10  We  are  to  prove  that  "  now  we  are  the  people 
of  God,^^  that  we  have  been  naturalised — or 
shall  I  say  supernaturalised  ? — into  the  kingdom 
of  God,  and  we  are  to  prove  it  by  bringing 
into  common  affairs  the  air  of  a  better  country, 
a  loftier  tone,  a  finer  temper,  a  nobler  spirit. 
"  Our  citizenship "  is  to  be  "  in  heaven,"  and 
we  are  to  "  shew  forth  the  excellencies  of  God  " 


CHAPTER  II.   1-10  77 

in  tlie  lightsomeness  and  spirituality  of  His 
people.  Sucli  is  to  be  the  ministry  of  the 
spiritual  society  which  our  Father  will  create 
out  of  His  reconciled  and  sanctified  children. 
Such  is  to  be  the  "  spiritual  house,"  built  up  of 
'*  living  stones,"  and  having  as  its  one  and  only 
foundation  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord. 


THE    MINISTRY    OF    SEEMLY 
BEHAVIOUR 

1  Peter  ii.  11-17 

Beloved,  I  beseech  you  as  sojourners  and  pilgrims,  to 
abstain  from  flesJdy  lusts  which  war  against  the  soul ; 
having  your  behaviour  seemly  among  the  Gentiles;  thatt 
wherein  they  speak  against  you  as  evil-doers,  they  may  by 
your  good  ivorks,  ivhich  they  behold,  glorify  God  in  the  day 
of  visitation.  Be  subject  to  every  ordinance  of  man  for  the 
Lord's  sake :  whether  it  be  to  the  king,  as  su]7reme  ;  or  unto 
governors,  as  sent  by  him  for  vengeance  on  evil-doers  and  for 
praise  to  them  that  do  ivell.  For  so  is  the  ivill  of  God,  that 
by  well-doing  ye  should  put  to  silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish 
men :  as  free,  and  not  using  your  freedom  for  a  cloke  of 
wickedness,  but  as  bondservants  of  God.  Honour  all  men. 
Love  the  brotherhood.     Fear  God.    Honour  the  king. 

This  is  an  appeal  for  the  evangelising  influences 
of  a  chaste  and  winsome  character.  It  is  an 
apostolic  entreaty  to  consider  the  immeasurable 
momentum  of  a  beautiful  life.  It  is  a  glorifi- 
cation of  the  silent  witness  of  saintliness.  It  is 
not  given  to  all  men  to  have  the  faculty  and 
function  of  the  prophet,  his  clear  sight,  and  his 
power    of    fruitful    interpretation.       The    per- 

78 


CHAPTEE  II.   11-17  79 

suasive,  wooing  speech,  of  the  evangelist  is  not 
an  element  in  the  common  endowment.  The 
evangelist  and  the  prophet  may  be  only  infre- 
quent creations,  and  their  gifts  may  have  only 
a  limited  distribution.  But  we  may  all  exercise 
the  ministry  of  beauty.  Every  man  may  be  an 
ambassador  of  life,  discharging  his  office  through 
the  medium  of  holiness.  Every  man  may  be 
an  evangelist  in  the  domain  of  character,  dis- 
tributing his  influence  through  the  odour  of 
sanctity,  in  seemliness  of  bebaviour,  in  exquisite 
fitness  of  speech,  in  finely  finished  and  well- 
proportioned  life.  This  is  a  ministry  for  every- 
body, the  apostleship  of  spiritual  beauty.  And 
so  in  the  passage  before  us  the  apostle  is 
engaged  in  delineating  the  features  of  the 
character  that  tells.  He  is  depicting  a  forceful 
life.  He  is  exhibiting  the  behaviour  which  is 
influential  in  leading  men  to  reverent  thought 
and  religious  inquiry  and  spiritual  conviction. 
"What  are  these  public  aspects  of  the  sanctified 
life  ?  By  what  kind  of  living  can  we  best 
arouse  the  interest  of  the  world  in  the  claims 
and  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ  ?  How  may  we  become  powerful  evan- 
gelists, even  though  we  have  been  denied  the 
gift  of  tongues  ?  How  may  we  arrest  the  world 
in  fruitful  wonder  ?  Let  us  seek  the  answer  in 
the  apostolic  word. 


80    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

Verse  11  "  Abstain  from  fleshly  lusts."  That  is  the  first 
note  in  the  forceful  life.  Do  not  let  us  so 
narrow  its  interpretation  that  the  majority  of 
us  escape  the  grip  of  the  apostle's  injunction. 
Let  us  attribute  a  comprehensive  content  to 
the  unwelcome  word  *'  lust."  Lust  includes  the 
entire  army  of  unclean  forces  which  are  an- 
tagonistic to  the  exalted  realm  of  the  spirit.  It 
includes  not  only  the  carnal  desire,  but  the 
jealous  eye  and  the  itching  palm.  It  compre- 
hends every  form  of  heated  and  feverish  motion 
which  is  destructive  of  spiritual  treasure. 
Fleshly  lust  is  anything  in  the  life  which  steams 
the  windows  of  the  spirit.  Fleshly  lust  is 
therefore  inclusive  of  envy,  jealousy,  avarice, 
insatiable  selfishness,  and  immoderate  ambition. 
"  Abstain  from  fleshly  lusts,"  from  any  excessive 
heat  which  maintains  its  fire  by  consuming  the 
furniture  of  the  soul. 

Now,  what  is  this  but  a  plea  for  the  ascen- 
dency of  spirit?  It  is  a  plea  for  the  mag- 
nificent passion  of  moderation,  and  for  the 
imposing  grace  of  a  noble  self-restraint.  "  Ab- 
stain from  fleshly  lusts."  Do  not  let  any  fire 
get  outside  the  bars.  Do  not  let  the  flames 
reach  the  furniture.  Hold  everything  in  its 
place.  Suffer  no  usurpation.  Do  not  let  the 
lower  supplant  the  higher.  Eigidly  observe 
the  distinction  of   subject   and   sovereign,   and 


CHAPTER  II.  11-17  81 

preserve  the  purity  of  the  throne.  Such  is  the 
all-inclusive  meaning  of  the  apostolic  counsel. 
In  the  constitution  of  man  there  is  a  Divine 
order.  His  powers  are  arranged  in  ranks  and 
gradations.  The  science  of  life  is  the  doctrine 
of  gradation;  the  art  of  living  is  the  recog- 
nition of  gradation.  I  suppose  that  George 
Combe  did  a  great  service  to  the  cause  of 
practical  thinking  when,  seventy  years  ago,  he 
wrote  his  work  on  The  Constitution  of  Man. 
I  am  not  aware  that  there  was  anything  new 
in  the  philosophy  of  the  book.  It  only  con- 
firmed the  teaching  of  the  entire  range  of 
philosophy  stretching  back  from  his  own  day 
to  the  days  of  Socrates  and  Plato.  And 
what  was  the  teaching  ?  That  the  powers  of 
the  human  personality  are  arranged  in  heighten- 
ing gradation,  and  that  the  secret  of  beau- 
tiful living  consists  in  awarding  to  each 
rank  its  own  precise  and  peculiar  value.  The 
service  rendered  by  George  Combe  consisted 
in  the  attempt  to  make  this  philosophy  a  plain, 
practical  rule  for  common  life.  I  find  in  the 
resources  of  my  personality  regiments  of 
diverse  powers.  I  find  vital  forces,  affectional 
forces,  social  forces,  moral  forces,  spiritual 
forces.  I  find  elements  whose  kinship  is  with 
the  swine,  and  I  find  elements  which  have  the 
lustre  and  the  preciousness  of  pearls.     What  ia 


82    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

the  art  of  successful  and  forceful  living.  "  Give 
not  that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  neither 
cast  ye  your  pearls  before  swine."  Do  not 
treat  swine  and  pearls  as  though  they  were  of 
equal  value.  Eecognise  an  aristocracy  among 
the  powers,  and  to  them  give  the  preference 
and  the  sovereignty.  When  there  are  two  calls 
in  the  life,  the  bark  of  the  dog  and  a  voice 
from  the  sanctuary,  "  give  not  that  which  is 
holy  unto  the  dogs,"  but  ever  keep  the  lowest 
under  the  severe  jurisdiction  of  the  highest. 
*'  Abstain  from  fleshly  lusts."  Do  not  allow  any 
lower  power  to  prowl  about  in  loose  licentious- 
ness. Keep  the  chain  on.  "  Let  your  modera- 
tion be  known  unto  all  men."  Exercise  the 
ministry  of  a  well-ordered  life.  Let  all  the 
powers  in  the  life  be  well  drilled,  well  disciplined, 
healthily  ranked,  each  one  in  its  place,  from 
the  private  soldier  up  to  the  commander-in- 
chief.  "Abstain  from  fleshly  lusts."  The 
primary  characteristic  of  forceful,  influential 
character  is  the  ascendency  of  the  spirit. 
Verses  "  Be  subject  to  every  ordinance  of  man  for  the 
LorcVs  sake:  whether  it  be  to  the  Idng^  as  supreme; 
or  unto  governors,  as  sent  by  him  for  vengeance 
on  evil-doers  and  for  praise  to  them  that  do 
welly  That  is  the  second  element  that  tells — 
*  Be  subject  to  every  ordinance  ...  to  the 
king  ...  or   unto   governors ! "     Is  there  any 


CHAPTER  11.   11-17  83 

suggestion  of  forcefulness  in  the  counsel?  It 
appears  to  indicate  the  cringing  obedience 
of  boneless  weaklings.  I  thought  that  the 
influential  character  was  conspicuous  for  its 
beauty.  Is  there  anything  of  beauty  in  this 
apparent  servility  ?  John  Euskin  has  told  us 
that  one  of  the  primary  elements  of  beauty 
is  the  element  of  repose.  But  he  is  careful  to 
explain  that  by  repose  he  does  not  mean  the 
weak  passivity  of  a  pebble  lying  upon  the 
highway,  but  the  repose  of  a  mountain,  with 
its  protruding  rocks  revealing  themselves  like 
gigantic  muscles.  It  is  repose  suggestive  of 
might,  hinting  of  splendid  power  in  reserve. 
May  we  translate  the  axiom  into  our  interpre- 
tation of  spiritual  beauty  ?  Spiritual  beauty 
must  not  have  the  repose  and  passivity  of  a 
pebble :  it  must  display  muscle,  and  be  sug- 
gestive of  irresistible  strength.  Character  that 
tells  must  be  the  ally  of  power.  Its  very  sub- 
missions must  be  indicative  of  strong  nobility. 
Its  bendings  must  not  be  the  bendings  of  the 
invertebrate,  but  the  voluntary,  reasonable 
homage  of  a  splendid  will.  What,  then,  is  all 
this  about,  this  submitting  to  ordinances  and 
kings  and  governors?  Whatever  else  it  may 
mean,  it  is  not  the  bending  of  reeds,  but  the 
devotion  of  giants.  Here,  I  think,  is  the  secret. 
A  Christian  man  is  one  who  clearly  recognises 


84    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

the  necessity  of  social  order.  The  sanctity  of 
society  is  a  cardinal  element  in  his  faith.  The 
hallowing  of  human  relationship  is  not  one 
whit  behind  the  hallowing  of  himself.  The 
ultimate  purpose  of  redemption  is  to  make  an 
orderly  family  out  of  a  disorderly  race.  The 
Christian  will  not  stand  aloof  from  his  fellows. 
He  will  not  walk  the  lonely  way  of  isolation,  or 
assume  an  attitude  of  selfish  aggression.  He 
will  not  maintain  a  stern  individualism,  in  which 
the  claims  and  rights  of  others  are  ignored.  He 
will  recognise  the  hallowedness  of  social  fellow- 
ships, and  he  will  strongly  accept  his  social 
obligations.  He  will  bend  himself  to  the  dis- 
charge of  civic  duties,  and  put  his  shoulder 
beneath  the  responsible  burden  of  national  life. 
He  will  fit  himself  into  the  social  order,  into  the 
body  corporate,  and  he  will  willingly  share  his 
blood  in  the  common  life. 

If  this  be  evangelistic  character,  the  character 
that  tells  upon  "the  Gentiles,"  then  Christian 
life  is  not  perfected  and  beautified  where  the 
hallowing  of  the  social  order  is  ignored.  When 
civic  duty  is  neglected,  and  national  obligation 
is  overlooked,  the  fair  circle  of  spiritual  devotion 
is  broken.  "Be  subject  to  every  ordinance 
of  man  for  the  Lord's  sake  ...  to  the  king  .  .  . 
or  unto  governors."  Bend  your  strength  into 
an  intelligent  obedience  which  will  be  creative 


CHAPTER  11.   11-17  85 

of  a  larger  and  more  fruitful  corporate  life.  I 
liave  no  personal  doubt  as  to  what  we  should  do 
with  kings  and  governors  if  their  rule  minister 
to  moral  chaos  and  disorder.  The  sovereignty- 
is  only  hallowed  when  it  works  to  hallowed 
ends.  If  this  predominant  purpose  is  violated 
by  the  supreme  king  or  governor,  a  man's  very- 
reverence  for  social  sanctities  will  transform  him 
into  a  rebel.  It  was  because  our  fathers  were 
possessed  by  hallowed  civic  instincts,  and  by  a 
burning  eagerness  for  pure  and  righteous  cor- 
porate life,  that  they  hurled  Charles  I.  from  the 
throne,  and  in  his  rejection  and  dethronement 
pledged  their  souls  to  a  deepened  devotion  to 
the  sovereignty  of  God.  A  primary  character- 
istic of  forceful,  evangelistic  character  is  the 
serious  recognition  of  the  sanctity  of  corporate 
life. 

"  As  free^  and  not  using  your  freedom  for  a  cloke  Verse  16 
of  wickedness,  hut  as  bondservants  of  GodJ'  Here 
is  another  aspect  of  the  influential  life — "  Using 
your  freedom  ...  as  bondservants."  All  privi- 
lege is  used  with  a  sense  of  responsibility. 
All  exercise  is  taken  "  as  ever  in  the  great  Task- 
master's eye."  No  freedom  is  permitted  to 
become  licence.  Every  liberty  is  under  the 
dominion  of  a  fine  restraint.  Why,  a  sense  of 
responsibility  and  restraint  is  essential  even  to 
the  appreciation  of  freedom  itself.     Restraint  is 


86    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

always   creative   of  refined    perceptions.      The 
ascetic    can    discern    finer    flavours     than    the 
glutton.      The   man   who   puts   reins   upon   his 
appetite    has    a    more    delightful    appreciation 
of    his    food.       He    must    be   a    bondslave    to 
appreciate    his    freedom.      It  is  even   so   with 
every    manner    of    freedom.      It    is    only    re- 
sponsible exercise  that  discovers  their  luxurious 
essence.      Licence,   in    any    kind    of    freedom, 
works   to    coarseness,  to  injury,   and  to   waste. 
Is  this  word   altogether   inopportune    for    our 
own  day?      Are    there    no    alluring    freedoms 
which  may  entice  us  into  licence  ?    Freedom  of 
thought!      "tJse    your  freedom  as  the  bond- 
servants of  God."     No  man  has  a  right  to  think 
as  he  likes.     No  man  has  a  right  to  think  about 
the   unworthy,  or  to  contemplate  the  unclean. 
In  the  domain  of  the  mind,  it  is  the  man  who 
angles  in  narrow  waters  who  has  the  wealthiest 
haul.     Freedom  of  speech  !     "  Use  your  freedom 
as  the  bondservants  of  God."     Exercise  it  with 
severe  restrictions.      "Let  no    communication 
proceed  out  of  your  mouth  but  what  is  edifying." 
In  all  these  freedoms  the  element  of  responsi- 
bility is   the   saving   salt,   and   sometimes    the 
element  of  responsibility  will  cause  the  freedom 
to  be  unused.      If  a  man  resign  his  freedom  to 
take  intoxicating  drink  that  he  may  the  better 
minister    to    an    imperilled    brother,   I    cannot 


CHAPTER  11.   11-17  87 

but  think  that  in  reality  lie  is  no  bondslave, 
but  the  Lord's  freeman,  and  that  his  deed  will 
not  appear  unworthy  when  it  is  placed 
in  the  searching  rays  of  the  Eternal  Light. 
In  the  character  that  tells,  the  responsible 
use  of  freedom  is  a  great  and  influential 
factor. 

"  Honour  all  men.  Love  the  brotherhood.  Fear  Verse  17 
God.  Honour  the  king.''  ''Honour  all  men!" 
The  injunction  includes  the  entire  circle  of 
human  relationships.  "Honour!"  "Fear!" 
"  Love  ! "  What  do  the  counsels  mean  except 
this— that  our  entire  life  is  to  to  be  passed  in 
the  exercise  of  an  all-inclusive  reverence.  We 
are  to  move  about  in  the  spirit  of  homage, 
expecting  that  at  any  time,  and  anywhere,  we 
may  come  upon  crowned  sovereignties  before 
which  it  will  be  well  for  us  to  bow  in  serious 
and  grateful  regard.  If  we  are  irreverent, 
monarchs  will  be  continually  passing  us,  but 
they  will  not  be  known.  They  will  pass  "  like 
ships  in  the  night."  Eeverence  is  the  very 
spirit  of  perception.  Frivolity  has  no  eyes, 
and  so  it  bestows  no  honour.  Censoriousness 
is  blind,  and  so  is  never  aroused  into  love. 
Pride  walks  with  a  heavy  veil.  The  cocksure 
never  rest  in  the  deep  quietness  of  the  Divine 
certainties.  It  is  the  man  who  walks  in 
reverence,    the    man    who   feels    the    mystery 


88    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

of  all  things,  whetlier  lie  be  contemplating 
common  men  or  kings  or  God,  who  enters 
into  the  secret  treasure-house,  and  discovers 
unsuspected  wealth.  We  should  see  more  in 
one  another  if  the  angel  of  reverence  dwelt 
near  the  springs  of  our  Hfe.  It  is  the  man  who 
stands  in  reverence  before  flowers,  and  little 
children,  and  his  own  loved  ones,  and  his  leaders, 
and  his  God,  to  whom  are  revealed  the  secret 
essences  which  turn  life  into  a  garden  of 
unspeakable  delights. 

These,  then,  are  some  of  the  characteristics  of 
the  "seemly  behaviour,"  which,  working  through 
the  medium  of  holiness,  proclaim  the  glory  of 
God — the  ascendency  of  spirit,  the  aspiration 
after  social  sanctity,  the  responsible  use  of 
freedom,  and  the  ceaseless  exercise  of  reverence. 
These  are  the  primary  aspects  of  the  forceful  life 
which  works  mightily  in  the  evangelisation  of 
the  world.  As  to  what  would  be  the  issues  of 
such  a  life  the  apostle  proclaims  a  triumphant 
Verse  12  hope.  "  The  Gentiles,'^  the  great  unleavened 
mass  of  men,  "  by  your  good  works,  which  they 
heholdj^^  shall  ^^  glorify  God  in  the  day  of 
visitation.'^  The  beautiful  life  is  to  raise  their 
thoughts  in  homage  to  the  glorious  God. 
When  they  behold  the  Divine  realised  in  the 
human,  they  too  are  to  be  wooed  into  heavenly 
fellowships.     They  are  to  be  wooed,  not  by  the 


CHAPTER  II.   11-17  89 

eloquence  of  our  speech,  but  by  the  radiance 
of  our  behaviour.  By  the  imposing  grace  of 
noble  living  we  are  to  ^^  put  to  silence  the  Veise  15 
ignorance  of  foolish  menj'^  and  that  silence  will 
be  for  them  the  first  stage  in  a  life  of  aspiring 
consecration. 


THE  SUFFERINGS  OF  CHEIST 

1  Peter  ii.  21-25 

For  hereunto  were  ye  called :  because  Christ  also  suffered 
for  you,  leaving  you  an  example,  that  ye  should  follow  His 
steps :  who  did  no  sin,  neither  ivas  guile  found  in  His  mouth  : 
who,  when  He  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again;  when  He 
suffered,  threatened  not ;  hut  committed  Himself  to  Him  that 
judgeth  righteously  :  who  His  own  self  bare  our  sins  in  His 
body  upon  the  tre^,  that  we,  having  died  unto  sins,  might 
live  unto  righteousness ;  by  whose  stripes  ye  were  healed. 
For  ye  were  going  astray  like  sheep ;  but  are  now  returned 
unto  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  your  souls. 

Yeises  ^^  Christ  also  suffered  .  .  .  who  did  no  sin^ 
^^'  ^^  The  two  phrases  must  be  conjoined  if  either 
is  to  receive  an  adequate  interpretation.  The 
earlier  term  discloses  its  significance  by  the  light 
of  the  later  term.  If  we  would  know  the  content 
and  intensity  of  the  suffering,  we  must  know 
the  character  of  the  sufferer.  "Christ  also 
Verse  21  suffered.''  The  word  is  indeterminate  until  I 
know  the  quality  of  His  life.  Suffering  is  a 
relative  term.  The  measure  of  its  acuteness  is 
determined  by  the  degree  of  our  refinement. 
The  same  burden  weighs  unequally  on  different 

90 


CHAPTER  II.   21-25  91 

men.  Lower  organisation  implies  diminished 
sensitiveness  The  higher  the  organisation  the 
finer  becomes  the  nerve,  and  the  finer  the  nerve 
the  more  delicate  becomes  the  exposure  to 
pain.  The  more  exquisite  the  refinement,  the 
more  exquisite  is  the  pang. 

I  do  not  limit  the   principle  to  the   domain 
of  the  flesh.     It  is  a  matter  of  familiar  know- 
ledge that  in  the  body  it  is  regnant.     There  are 
bodies  in  which  the  nerves  seem   atrophied  or 
still-bom,  and  there   are   bodies    in  which  the 
nerves  abound  like  masses  of  exquisitely  sensi- 
tive pulp.     But  the  diversity  runs  up  into  the 
higher  endowments  of  the  life,  ino  the  esthetic 
and  affectional  and    spiritual  domains    of    the 
being.     The  man  of  little  aesthetic  refinement 
knows  nothing  of  the  aches  and  pains  created 
by  ugliness   and   discord.     The  rarer  organisa- 
tion is  pierced  and  wounded  by  every  jar  and 
obliquity.     It  is  even  so  in  the  realm   of  the 
affections.     Where  affection  burns  low,  neglect 
and  inattention  are  unnoticed  ;  where  love  burns 
fervently,  neglect  is  a  martyrdom.     If  we  rise 
still  higher  into  the  coronal  dominions   of   the 
life,   into   the   domain    of    moral    and   spiritual 
sentiments,   we    shall    find   that   the   degree   of 
rectitude  and  holiness  determines  the    area  of 
exposure  to  the  wounding,  crucifying  ministry 
of  vulgarity  and  sin. 


92     THE   FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

"Christ  also  suffered  .  .  .  who  did  no  sin." 
We  must  interpret  the  rarity  and  refinement  of 
His  spirit  if   we  would  even  faintly  realise  the 

Verse  22  intensity  of  His  sufferings.  "  Who  did  no  sin^ 
neither  was  guile  found  in  His  mouth."  "  No 
sin  ! "  The  fine,  sensitive  membrane  of  the  soul 
had  in  nowise  been  scorched  by  the  fire  of 
iniquity.  "  No  sin  ! "  He  was  perfectly  pure  and 
healthy.  No  power  had  been  blasted  by  the 
lightning  of  passion.  No  nerve  had  been 
atrophied  by  the  wasting  blight  of  criminal 
neglect.  The  entire  surface  of  His  life  was  as 
finely  sensitive  as   the   fair,  healthy  skin   of   a 

Verse  22  little  child.  "  Neither  tvas  guile  found  in  His 
mouthy  There  was  no  duplicity.  There  were 
no  secret  folds  or  convolutions  in  His  life  con- 
cealing ulterior  motives.  There  was  nothing 
underhand.  His  life  lay  exposed  in  perfect 
truthfulness  and  candour.  The  real,  inner  mean- 
ing of  His  life  was  presented  upon  a  plain 
surface  of  undisturbed  simplicity.  "  No  sin ! " 
Therefore  nothing  blunted  or  benumbed.  "  No 
guile!"  Therefore  nothing  hardened  by  the 
effrontery  of  deceit.  I  ask  you  to  try  to 
imagine  the  immense  area  which  such  a  life 
laid  open  to  the  wounding  implements  of  un- 
faithfulness and  sin. 

Now,  it  is  a  Scriptural  principle  that  all  sin  is 
creative  of  insensitiveness.      "  The  wages  of  sin 


CHAPTER  II.   21-25  93 

is  death,"  deadened  faculty,  impaired  perception. 
"  His  leaf  shall  wither ! "  Sin  is  a  blasting 
presence,  and  every  fine  power  shrinks  and 
withers  in  the  destructive  heat.  Every  spiritual 
delicacy  succumbs  to  its  malignant  touch.  I 
suppose  that  Scripture  has  drawn  upon  every 
sense  for  analogies  in  which  to  express  the 
ravages  of  sin  in  the  region  of  perception.  Sin 
impairs  the  sight,  and  works  towards  blindness. 
Sin  benumbs  the  hearing  and  tends  to  make  men 
deaf.  Sin  perverts  the  taste,  causing  men  to 
confound  the  sweet  with  the  bitter,  and  the  bitter 
with  the  sweet.  Sin  hardens  the  touch,  and 
eventually  renders  a  man  ''  past  feeling."  All 
these  are  Scriptural  analogies,  and  their  common 
significance  appears  to  be  this — sin  blocks  and 
chokes  the  fine  senses  of  the  spirit ;  by  sin  we 
are  desensitised,  rendered  imperceptive,  and  the 
range  of  our  correspondence  is  diminished.  Sin 
creates  callosity.  It  hoofs  the  spirit,  and  so 
reduces  the  area  of  our  exposure  to  pain. 

"  Who  did  no  sin !  "  No  part  of  His  being 
had  been  rendered  insensitive.  No  perception 
had  been  benumbed  by  any  callous  overgrowth. 
Put  the  slightest  pressure  upon  the  Master's  life, 
and  you  awoke  an  exquisite  nerve.  "  And  they 
disputed  one  with  another  who  should  be 
greatest."  ..."  And  Jesus  perceivioig  their 
thoughts !  "    How  sensitive  the   perception  !    The 


94    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

touch  of  a  selfish  thought  crushed  upon  the 
nerve,  and  stirred  it  into  agony.  Such  is  the 
sensitiveness  of  sinlessness,  and  in  this  vulgar, 
si'lfish,  and  sinful  world  it  could  not  be  but  that 
the  Sinless  One  should  be  "  a  Man  of  Sorrows," 
and  that  He  should  pass  through  pangs  and 
martyrdoms  long  before  He  reached  the  appal- 
ling midnight  of  Gethsemane  and  Calvary. 
*'  Christ  also  suffered  .  .  .  who  did  no  sin." 

Now,  let  us  watch  this  sensitive  Sufferer,  so 
quick  and  apprehensive  in  every  nerve,  and  let 
us  contemplate  the  nature  of  some  of  the  suffer- 
Verse  23  ings  He  endured.     "  He  was  reviled:'     Give  the 
word  its   requisite  intensity.     He   was   vilified, 
vituperated,  slandered  !     "What  was  the  shape  of 
the  reviling  ?   He  was  denounced  as  a  liar !    "  He 
deceiveth  the  people."    Why,  even  with  our  blunt 
and  benumbed  consciousness,  there  is  no  charge 
like    falsehood  for  tearing    us   with    poignant 
pain.     There  is  no  word  which   pierces  to  the 
quick  and  stabs  the  very  marrow,  like  the  awful 
word  "  liar ! "    But  to  the  Pure  One,  with    His 
unimpaired   perception,  and   in  whose   hfe  the 
truth   lay   as   fair   and  white   as   newly   fallen 
snow,  the  charge  of  falsehood  would  create  un- 
utterable   pain.     "Christ   also   suffered,"   being 
reviled.     What  was  the  shape  of  the  revilings  ? 
*'This    man    blasphemeth ! "      This    meek    and 
lowly    Being,  walking   ever    in    the    stoop    of 


CSAPTEE  il.  21-25  95 

reverence,  seeking  ever  to  be  well  pleasing  to 
His  Father,  now  charged,  by  those  He  came  to 
save,  with  irreverent  and  sacrilegious  speech. 
His  sacred  ministry  belied  as  profanity!  "He 
hath  a  devil,  and  is  mad ! "  "  He  casteth  out 
devils  by  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  devils  !  " 
This  holy  and  sensitive  Christ,  whose  one 
evangel  was  to  tell  men  of  His  own  sweet 
companionship  with  the  Father,  and  whose  one 
mission  was  to  raise  them  into  the  delights  of 
the  same  eternal  fellowship,  now  charged  with 
living  in  league  with  the  devil,  the  evil  despotism 
from  which  He  sought  to  deliver  them !  It  is  the 
proof  of  our  own  benumbment  if  we  do  not  feel 
that  such  accusations  resulted  in  spiritual  cruci- 
fixion. "He  was  reviled  .  .  .  He  suffered^  The  Verse  2: 
suffering  covers  the  whole  scope  of  the  Passion, 
from  the  dull  pangs  of  the  physical  crucifixion 
to  the  sharper  and  more  terrible  pangs  of  the 
crucifixion  of  the  spirit.  Now,  I  say,  take  this 
Man  of  the  sinless,  guileless  life ;  let  Him  move 
amid  the  chaos  of  selfishness,  the  riot  of  lust- 
fulness,  the  cruelty  of  thoughtlessness,  the  chill- 
ing insults  of  studied  neglect  and  contempt  ; 
let  Him  be  made  the  victim  of  incivility;  let 
there  be  withheld  from  Him  the  common 
courtesies;  let  Him  be  denied  the  hospitable 
kiss,  and  the  kindly  gift  of  water  for  His  tired 
feet ;    let  rough   men  roughly  handle  Him ;   let 


96     THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

them  mock  Him  and  deride  Him;  and  as  the 
very  consummation  of  coarse  vulgarity,  let  them 
go  up  to  this  Man  of  exquisite  refinement,  and 
spit  in  His  face,  and  then  let  them  subject  Him 
to  all  the  howling,  laughing  brutality  of  the 
crucifixion,— I  say,  watch  all  this,  gaze  steadily 
upon  it,  look  long  upon  all  its  repellent  offensive- 
ness,  and  while  you  keep  in  mind  the  exquisite 
sensitiveness  of  the  Sufferer,  you  will  enter 
with  a  little  more  power  of  interpretation  into 
that  familiar  cry,  "  Behold,  and  see  if  there  be 
any  sorrow  like  unto  My  sorrow !  "  "  His  visage 
was  so  marred  more  than  any  man."  "  He  was 
a  Man  of  Sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief." 

We  may  not  know,  we  cannot  tell, 
What  pains  He  had  to  bear. 

How  did  the  Lord  endure  His  sufferings? 
Verse  23  "  When  He  luas  reviled^  He  reviled  not  againJ' 
The  bitter  attack  was  not  creative  of  bitter 
retahation.  The  hurled  venom  did  not  poison 
His  springs.  Amid  the  environing  bitterness 
the  Man  of  Nazareth  remained  sweet.  I  have 
sometimes  heard  bitter  retaliation  justified  on 
the  plea  that  even  the  sweetest  milk  will 
turn  sour  under  the  influence  of  a  prolonged 
storm.  I  am  doubtful  of  the  accuracy  of  the 
physical  analogy,  but  I  am  confident  of  the 
inaccuracy   of    the    spiritual   inference.       It   is 


CHAPTER  11.   21-25  97 

possible    for    "the   milk   of   human    kindness" 
to    be    kept    sweet    in    the   most   tempestuous 
weather.     "  When   He  was   reviled,  He  reviled 
not    again.''        Is    the    example    too    remote? 
Come  down,  then,  from  the  high,  cool  altitudes 
of  the  Master's    abode,    and   let   us   see   if   the 
milk   can    be    kept    sweet    in   the   presumably 
more   sultry   vales   of   common   men.     Here   is 
a  man  with   a   stormy,   tempestuous   life,— "  in 
stripes  above  measure,  in  prisons  more  frequent. 
...  Of  the   Jews   five   times   received   I   forty 
stripes   save    one.  .  .  .  Thrice    was    I    bealen 
with    rods,    once    was    I   stoned  ...  in   weari- 
ness,   in    painfulness,   in    watchings    often,    in 
hunger  and   thirst,   in   fastings   often,   in    cold 
and   nakedness!"     Did   the    milk   keep   sweet? 
All  these  things  he  suffered  of  the  Jews.     When 
he  was  reviled,  did  he  revile  again  ?     "I  could 
wish    myself    accursed    from     Christ     for     my 
brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  ! " 
"My    heart's    desire   and  prayer    to    God    for 
Israel  is,  that  they  may  be  saved!"     I  thought 
that  out  of  the  heart  of  the  tempest  I   might 
hear  the   angry   shout   of  retaliation;    instead 
of  which   I    hear    a    sweet    and    self-forgetful 
prayer,   sounding   like   silvery   village    bells   in 
a   night   of   storm.     The    spirit    was    not    em- 
bittered.     The    milk    was    not    soured.       The 
apostle  was  just  the  Master  over  again.     "  When  Ver.e  23 


98    THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETEB 

Verse  23^6  suffered^  He  threatened  not^  There  was 
no  violent  menace  in  the  Master's  life.  There 
was  no  dark,  fateful  hinting  of  a  day  of 
vengeance.  There  was  no  sullen,  angry  biding 
of  His  time  for  the  season  of  retaliation.  He 
remained  quiet,  unembittered,  sweet,  and  "  com- 
mitted Himselj]^^  in  happy  confidence,  and  with 
ever-increasing  assurance,  "  to  Him  that  judgeth 
righteously.^^ 

Such  was  the  Sufferer,  such  were  His  suffer- 
ings, and  such  the  way  in  which  He  endured 
them.  What  were  the  fruits  of  this  tran- 
scendent endurance?  If  I  were  even  to  attempt 
to  give  an  exhaustive  reply  to  the  great  inquiry, 
I  should  have  to  quote  the  New  Testament 
record  from  end  to  end.  On  every  page  one 
can  find  the  enumeration  and  catalogue  of 
the  gracious  fruits.  Their  proclamation  is  the 
New  Testament  glory.  But  just  look  at  the 
pregnant  summary  given  by  the  apostle  Peter 
in  the  passage  of  our  text.     ''  Christ  also  suffered 

Verse  24  .  .  .  that  we  might  live^  What  is  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  word?  Out  of  His  sufferings 
there  issues  a  vital  energy  for  the  reviving 
and  enlivening  of  the  race.  It  is  evidence 
whose  testimony  cannot  be  ignored  that 
when  the  heart  is  crushed  with  sin,  and  is 
sinking  under  the  burden,  it  turns  its  eyes  to 
those  scenes  in  the  Saviour's  life  where  His 


CHAPTER  n.  21-25  99 

sufferings  are  most  abounding.  Men  in  whose 
vitals  the  poison  of  the  devil  is  dwelling,  and 
whose  spiritual  force  is  ebbing  away,  do  not 
tarry  at  Bethlehem,  or  even  upon  the  great 
Mount  where  the  great  -teaching  was  given. 
They  make  their  way  to  Gethsemane  and 
Calvary.  It  is  when  we  are  feeling  respectable 
that  Calvary  has  no  allurement.  But  when  the 
heart  is  bleeding  in  unclean  tragedy,  when  life 
ceases  to  be  a  debating  society  topic,  a  light 
subject  of  controversy  for  a  quiet  summer's  eve, 
when  the  burden  of  sin  weighs  down  upon  us  with 
heavy  and  intolerable  load,  it  is  then  we  follow 
the  pilgrim  band  along  the  well-trodden  way 
to  Gethsemane  and  Calvary,  that  in  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  august  Sufferer  we  might  discover 
the  vital  energy  of  a  restored  and  reinvigorated 
life.  "  Christ  also  suffered  ,  .  .  that  we  might 
live."  "  By  whose  stripes  ye  were  healedJ^  Do  Verse  24 
not  let  us  overlook  the  experience  because 
we  cainot  find  an  explanation.  Do  not  let  us 
reject  the  fact  because  we  cannot  contrive  a 
theory.  The  sorest  places  in  human  life,  the' 
raw,  festering  wounds  of  indwelling  sin,  can 
only  be  remedially  touched  by  the  healing 
influence  of  His  stripes.  The  miracle  is  re- 
peated ever}^  day.  The  sufferer  from  sin  turns 
for  release  to  the  suffering  Christ.  There  is  a 
strange  allurement  about  "  the  Man  of  Sorrows  " 


100     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

to  which  the  common  heart  bears  witness.  "  I, 
if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  Me ! " 
The  word  proclaims  the  magnetic  influence    of 

Verse  25  the  uplifted,  suifering  Christ.  "  Ye  were  going 
astray  like  sheep ;  hut  are  now  returned  "  ;  ye  have 
come  h(m3  again,  wooed  and  allured  by  the 
wondrous  spectacle  of  a  suffering  God  !  Such  are 
the  issues  of  the  calm  endurance  of  this  sensi- 
tive Sufferer — vital  energies,  full  of  reviving 
and  healing  ministry,  wooing  us  back  to  God. 

And  now  this  unspeakable  ministry  of  suffer- 
ing  is   proclamed   as   an   example   to   all   men. 

Verse  21  "  Christ  also  sT:iffered,  leaving  you  an  example^ 
that  ye  should  follow  His  steps J^  Do  not  let 
us  shrink  from  the  tremendous  sequence.  If 
the  calm,  strong  endurance  of  the  Master  has 
been  creative  of  transcendently  blessed  ministry, 
so  our  endurance  will  be  productive  of  vital 
powers  which  will  work  for  the  enrichment  of 
I9-2?  ^^^^  ^^GQ'  "  ^0  welV  Have  "  conscience  toward 
Gody  ^^  Follow  His  steys^  Let  no  revilings 
make  thee  desist,  let  no  sufferings  turn  thee 
sour,  and  thy  very  endurance  shall  make  thee 
a  large  contributor  to  the  co-operative  forces 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  To  remain  sweet 
under  coarse  reviling  is  to  be  a  fountain  of 
healing  energy.  To  remain  unselfishly  prayerful 
in  the  presence  of  menace  is  to  bring  currents  of 
heavenly  air  into  the   atmosphere   of   common 


CHAPTER  II.   21-25  101 

life.  All  fine  endurance  is  a  force  of  renewal, 
which  contributes  its  quota  of  energy  to  the 
ultimate  emancipation  of  the  race.  I  am  glad 
that  this  superlative  passage  springs  out  of 
counsel  to  a  slave.  I  am  glad  that  these 
stupendous  heights  are  connected  by  a  well- 
made  road  with  this  very  lowly  estate.  I  am 
glad  that  the  endurance  of  Jesus  is  placarded 
before  a  slave.  The  apostle  tells  the  slave  that 
he  too  may  be  an  element  and  factor  in  the 
universal  emancipation  and  redemption.  The 
slave  may  accomplish  more  by  calm  endurance 
than  by  hasty,  precipitate  revolt.  Fine,  noble 
endurance  is  energy — an  energy  which  raises 
the  common  temperature,  and  to  raise  the 
temperature  will  more  effectively  remove  the 
burden  of  icy  bondage  than  the  hasty  attacks 
of  ten  thousand  men  armed  with  the  pickaxe 
of  premature  revolt.  Let  us  do  well ;  let  us 
have  conscience  towards  God ;  let  us  endure,  if 
need  be,  the  contradiction  of  sinners ;  let  us 
persist  even  through  sufferings,  and,  by  the 
very  nobility  of  our  endurance,  we  shall  be 
leavening  the  world  with  the  emancipating 
forces  of  the  Christian  redemption.  "  Christ 
also  suffered,  leaving  you  an  example."  "  The 
things  which  happened  unto  me  have  turned 
out  rather  unto  the  furtherance  of  the  Gospel." 
"  If  we  suffer  we  shall  also  reign  with  Him." 


WIVES  AND  HUSBANDS 

1  Peter  iii.  1-8 

In  like  manner,,  ye  wives,  he  in  subjection  to  your  own 
husbands ;  that,  even  if  any  obey  not  the  word,  they  may 
without  the  word  be  gained  by  the  behaviour  of  their  wives  ; 
beholding  your  chaste  behaviour  coupled  with  fear.  Whose 
adorning  let  it  not  be  the  outivard  adorning  of  plaiting  the 
hair,  and  of  wearing  jeivels  of  gold,  or  of  putting  on  ap- 
parel;  but  let  it  he  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart,  in  the 
incorrujHible  apparel  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spiHt,  which  is 
in  the  sight  of  God  of  great  price.  For  after  this  manner 
aforetime  the  holy  women  also,  who  hoped  in  God,  adorned 
themselves,  being  in  subjection  to  their  own  husbands :  as 
Sarah  obeyed  Abraham,  calling  him  lord :  whose  children 
ye  now  are,  if  ye  do  well,  and  are  not  put  in  fear  by  any 
terror.  Ye  husbands,  ^?^  like  manner,  dwell  with  your  wives 
according  to  knowledge,  giving  honour  unto  the  woman,  as 
unto  the  weaker  vessel,  as  being  also  joint- heirs  of  the  grace 
of  life;  to  the  end  that  your  prayers  he  not  hindered. 
Finally,  be  ye  all  likeminded,  comjMSsionate,  loving  as 
brethren,  tenderhearted,  humbleminded. 

Where  shall  we  begin  our  interpretation  of  this 
influential  passage  ?  The  starting-place  of  the 
exposition  has  much  to  do  with  the  character 
and  quality  of  its  issues.  Everybody  knows  the 
starting-place  of  a  superficial  and  short-sighted 
curiosity.     It  fastens  its  primary  attention  upon 

102 


CHAPTER  III.   1^  103 

the  words  "  subjection,"  ''  fear,"  "  obedience." 
These  are  the  words  which  are  regarded  as  the 
points  of  emphasis.  Around  these  words  the 
interest  gathers  and  culminates.  The  rest  of 
the  broad  passage  is  secondary,  and  takes  its 
colour  from  their  determination.  I  propose  to 
reverse  the  order.  We  will  begin  with  the 
broad  significance  of  the  passage,  and  then 
reason  backwards  to  the  content  of  the  indi- 
vidual words.  We  will  gaze  upon  the  entire 
face,  and  then  take  up  the  interpretation  of 
single  features.  If  we  begin  with  the  words 
*'  subjection,"  "  fear,"  "  obedience,"  with  no  help- 
ful clue  of  interpretation,  we  shall  have  a 
perverted  and  destructive  conception  of  the 
dignity  of  womanhood.  But  if  we  begin  with 
the  broad,  general  portraiture  of  the  wife  and 
the  husband,  their  mutual  relationships  will 
stand  revealed  as  in  the  clear  light  of  a  radiant 
noon.  In  the  passage  for  exposition  the  apostle 
delineates  some  of  the  spiritual  characteristics  ^ 
of  the  ideal  husband  and  the  ideal  wife.  Let  ^  ' 
us  quietly  gaze  at  the  portraiture,  if  perchance 
some  of  its  beauty  may  steal  into  our  spirits, 
and  hallow  common  life  with  the  light  and 
glory  of  the  blessed  God. 

Where    does    the    apostle   begin   in   his   por- 
traiture  of  the   ideal   wife  ?   "  Chaste  heaviourJ'  Verse 


104   THE   FIRST   EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

The  first  element  in  worthy  womanhood  is  the 
wearing  of  the  white  robe.  The  spirit  is  per- 
fectly clean.  "The  King's  daughter  is  all 
glorious  within."  All  her  powers  consort 
together  like  a  white-robed  angel-band.  In 
every  room  of  her  life  one  can  find  the  fair 
linen,  "  clean  and  white."  In  the  realm  of  the 
imagination  her  thoughts  hover  and  brood 
like  white  doves.  In  the  abode  of  motive 
her  aspirations  are  as  sweet  and  pure  as  the 
breathings  of  a  little  child.  In  the  home  of 
feeling,  her  affections  are  as  incorruptible  as 
rays  of  light.  I|f  you  move  among  the  powers 
of  her  speech,  on  the  threshold  of  her  lips  you 
will  find  no  stain,  no  footprint  of  ''  anything 
that  defileth  or  worketh  abomination,  or  maketh 
a  lie."  In  the  inner  life  of  the  ideal  woman,  no 
unclean  garment  can  be  found,  for  everything 
wears  the  white  robe.  The  spirit  is  "  chaste." 
But  chasteness  is  more  than  cleanliness.  The 
stone  is  not  only  white,  it  is  chiselled  into 
delicacy.  Character  is  not  left  in  the  rough  ;  it 
is  refined  into  thoughtful  finish.  The  substance 
is  not  only  pure,  it  is  worked  into  beauty.  It  is 
not  only  true  in  matter,  it  is  consummated  in 
exquisite  manner.  If  the  analogy  of  purified 
womanhood  is  to  be  found  in  the  whiteness  of 
the  snow,  its  finish  is  to  be  found  in  the  graceful 
curves   and   forms   of  the    snowdrift.     "  Chaste 


CHAPTER  III.   1-8  105 

behaviour "  is  just  the  refined  purity  of  all  the 
activities  of  the  inner  life. 

Refined  purity  is  therefore  the  primary  ele- 
ment in  the  ideal  wife,  and  it  is  the  first  essential 
in  human  communion.  There  can  be  no  vital 
communion  where  both  the  communicants  are 
not  clean.  "When  dirt  intrudes,  fellowship  is  de- 
stroyed. Corruption  is  the  antagonist  of  cohesion. 
"  The  wicked  sJiall  not  stand J^  Their  very  un- 
cleanness  eats  up  the  consistency  and  brings  the 
structure  to  ruin.  When  uncleanness  breaks 
out  in  the  family  circle,  the  family  cannot 
"  stand."  If  envy  take  up  its  abode,  or 
jealousy,  or  any  type  of  carnal  desire,  the  fair 
and  beautiful  circle  is  broken.  The  great  family 
of  the  redeemed,  ''  the  multitude  whom  no  man 
can  number,"  are  one  in  the  wearing  of  the 
"  white  robe."  Their  consistency  and  solidarity 
are  found  in  their  purity,  and  in  the  absence 
of  all  the  alienating  forces  of  uncleanness  and 
defilement.  It  is  not  otherwise  in  the  relation- 
ship of  husband  and  wife.  The  wearing  of 
the  white  robe  is  the  primary  essential  to 
their  communion.  "  Keep  thy  garments  always 
white "  !  Does  the  ideal  appear  insuperable  ? 
Then  let  me  proclaim  another  word :  "  They 
shall  walk  with  Me  in  white ! "  That  is  not  a 
command ;  the  words  enshrine  a  promise. 
*'  Walking  with  Me,  they  shall  be  white,"     The 


106  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

whiteness  is  the  result  of  the  companionship. 
**  I  will  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye 
shall  be  clean."  The  sprinkling  is  not  a  transi- 
tory act ;  it  is  a  permanent  shower.  The  forces 
of  the  cleansing  Spirit  are  sprayed  upon  our 
powers  just  as  the  antiseptic  is  sprayed  upon 
the  exposed  wound  to  ward  off  and  destroy  the 
subtle  forces  of  contamination  and  defilement. 
To  be  a  companion  of  the  Lord  is  to  have  the 
assurance  of  purity.  "The  fear  of  the  Lord 
is  clean." 

What  is  the  second  element  in  the  portraiture 
Verse  4  of  the  ideal  wife  ?  "  iL  meek  and  quiet  spirit." 
There  is  nothing  cringing  or  servile  in  the 
disposition.  It  is  infinitely  removed  from  the 
saddening,  paralysing  obeisance  of  the  slave. 
**I  am  meek,"  cries  the  Master;  and  can  we 
detect  anything  fawning  or  fearful  about 
the  Son  of  Man?  In  the  interpretation 
of  the  great  word,  let  us  eliminate  from  our 
minds  every  suggestion  of  servility  and  ser- 
vitude. Meekness  is  just  the  opposite  to 
self-aggressiveness  and  violent  self-assertion. 
Meekness  is  just  self-suppression  issuing  in 
beneficent  service.  Meekness  does  not  tread 
the  narrow  path  of  a  selfish  ambition,  tending 
only  to  some  self-enriching  end.  Meekness  takes 
broad,  inclusive  ways  to  large  -and  unselfish  ends. 
Meekness  seeks  the  enrichment  of  life  through 


CHAPTEE  III.    1-^  107 

the  compreliension  of  the  many.  Self-assertion 
may  appear  to  succeed,  but  it  never  really  wins. 
It  may  gain  a  telescope,  but  it  loses  an  eye.  It 
may  win  an  estate,  but  it  loses  the  sense  of 
the  landscape.  It  may  gain  in  goods  what  it 
loses  in  power.  "  It  may  gain  the  whole  world, 
and  lose  its  own  soul."  The  meek  are  the  only 
true  ''  heirs."  They  gain  an  ever  finer  per- 
ceptiveness,  and  life  reveals  itself  in  richer 
perfumes  and  flavours  and  essences  with  every 
passing  day.  "  The  meek  shall  inherit  the 
earth." 

"A  meek  and  quiet  spirit."  A  quiet  spirit! 
The  opposite  to  that  which  we  describe  as 
"  loud."  The  ''  loud  "  woman  is  the  ostentatious 
woman,  moving  about  in  broad  sensations.  "He 
shall  not  cry  "  ;  there  was  nothing  loud  about  Him, 
quite  an  absence  of  the  scream :  "  neither  shall 
any  man  hear  His  voice  in  the  streets  " ;  there 
shall  be  nothing  about  Him  of  the  artifice 
of  self-advertisement.  The  Master  was  never 
"loud,"  and  so  He  was  a  most  winsome  and 
welcome  companion.  The  "  loud "  woman  is 
never  companionable.  The  difference  between 
a  "loud"  woman  and  a  woman  of  "quiet 
spirit "  is  the  difference  between  fireworks  and 
sunshine,  between  a  quiet,  genial  glow  and 
a  crackling  bonfire.  The  apostle  contrasts 
the  "  quiet  spirit "  with  the  love  of  sensational 


108    THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

attire  and  loud  adornments,  the  disposition 
to  arrest  attention  by  vulgar  dazzle  and  dis- 
play. The  disposition  is  a  fatal  foe  to  real 
communion.  After  all,  we  cannot  bask  in  the 
glare  of  fireworks;  we  rejoice  in  the  quiet 
sunlight.  Home  is  made  of  quiet  materials, 
and  one  of  the  elements  in  the  constitution 
of  beautiful  wedded  fellowship  is  "  a  meek  and 
quiet  spirit,  which  is  in  the  sight  of  God  of 
great  price." 

What  is  the  third  element  in  the  per- 
verse 6  traiture  of  the  ideal  wife?  ^^ Not  put  in  fear 
by  any  terror J^  How  shall  I  describe  the 
disposition?  Let  me  call  it  the  grace__of 
repose.  *'  Not  put  in  fear  by  any  terror." 
They  are  not  the  victims  of  "  sudden,  wild 
alarms."  They  are  not  easily  aroused  into  the 
fearfulness  which  is  so  often  the  parent  of 
thoughtlessness.  They  have  reposefulness  of 
spirit.  Now,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  it,  I 
think  this  fearfulness  is  more  characteristic  of 
women  than  of  men.  There  are  larger  enemies 
inside  the  gates  of  men's  gardens;  but  in  the 
garden  of  woman's  life,  I  think  that  the  heat 
of  fearfulness  and  the  slugs  of  worry  and  fret- 
fulness  will  be  found  to  be  more  abounding. 
Fearfulness  is  destructive  of  the  deeper  delights 
of  human  fellowship.  Restfulness  is  essential 
to  deep  and  fruitful  communion. 


CHAPTER  III.   1-8  109 

"What  are  the  lineaments  of  the  ideal  husband  ? 
*'  Biuell  with  your  wives  according  to  knowledge.''^  Verse  7 
How  shall  we  describe  the  characteristic  ? 
Let  lis  call  it  the  atmosphere  of  reasonableness. 
"  According  to  knowledgeJ^  We  may  grasp  its 
content  by  proclaiming  its  opposite :  "  Dwell 
with  your  wives  according  to  ignorance.  Just 
walk  in  blindness.  Don't  look  beyond  your  own 
desires.  Let  your  vision  be  entirely  intro- 
spective and  microscopic.  Never  exercise  your 
eyes  in  clear  and  comprehensive  outlook.  Dwell 
in  ignorance  ! "  No,  says  the  apostle,  "  dwell 
according  to  knowledge."  Keep  your  eyes 
open.  Let  reason  be  alert  and  active.  Let  all 
your  behaviour  be  governed  by  a  sweet  reason- 
ableness. Don't  let  appetite  determine  a  doing. 
Don't  let  thy  personal  wish  have  the  first  and 
last  word.  Exalt  thy  reason  !  Give  sovereignty 
to  thy  reason  !  Be  thoughtful  and  unceasingly 
considerate.  It  is  the  absence  of  this  prevailing 
spirit  of  reasonableness  which  has  marred  and 
murdered  many  a  bright  and  fair-promising 
communion.  "  He  is  not  really  bad  at  heart, 
but  he  doesn't  think  ! "  That  is  the  fatal  defect. 
He  does  not  think !  He  dwells  according  to 
ignorance  ;  his  reason  is  asleep,  and  the  beautiful, 
delicate  tie  of  wedded  fellowship  is  smitten, 
wounded,  and  eventually  destroyed. 

"  Giving  honour  unto  the  woman^  as  unto  the  Verse  7 


110    THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

lueaker  vessel^     Giving  honour,  paying  homage, 
bowing  down  in   tlie    spirit   in   the   posture    of 
serious  and  religious  regard.     To  the  atmosphere 
of  reasonableness  we  are  to  add  the  temper  of 
reverence.    Now,  see  the  wealthy  suggestiveness 
of  this.     Reverence  impUes  at  least  two  things- 
perception  and  homage.     We  must  first  see   a 
thing  before  we  can  pay  it  regard.     We  must  first 
behold  a  dignity  before  we  can  pay  homage  to  it. 
Homage  implies  perception :  perception  implies 
eyes.     How  are  the  seeing  eyes  obtained  ?     Let 
us  lay  this  down  as  an  axiom :    it   is   only  the 
lofty  in  characlier  that  can  discern  the  spiritual 
dignities  in  life.     Men   of   little  nature    cannot 
apprehend  spiritual  magnitudes.     John   Ruskin 
has  told  his  countrymen  that  they  are  incapable 
of  depicting  and  portraying  the  sublime,  because 
they  cannot  see  it  I    You  know  his  explanation. 
He  says  there  is  in  the  Englishman's  character 
an   element   of   burlesque  which  has  shortened 
and   dimmed   his   sight,    and   rendered  him    in- 
capable of  discerning  the  superlative  glories  of 
far-off  spiritual  heights.     Whatever  may  be  the 
quality  of   the  inference,  the  basal  principle  is 
true.      Perception     implies    elevation,    and    we 
cannot  see  the  enduring  dignities  of  Hfe  unless 
we  ourselves  are  dignified.     To   truly  revere  a 
woman,  a  man  himself  must  be  good.     He  must 
dwell  on  high.    He  must  abide  in  the  heavenly 


CHAPTER  III.   1-8  111 

places  in  Christ.  He  must  bathe  his  eyes  in 
heaven,  and  he  will  acquire  a  power  of  per- 
ception which  will  discern  in  his  wife,  and  in 
aU  womankind,  spiritual  dignities  which  will 
preserve  his  soul  in  the  abiding  posture  of 
lowly  and  reverent  regard.  The  husband  will 
see  in  his  wife  a  ^^ joint-heir  of  the  grace  o/verse7 
Z^/e,"  and  in  that  perception  every  relation- 
ship is  hallowed  and  enriched.  The  master  who 
sees  in  his  servant  a  "joint-heir  of  the  grace 
of  life,"  and  the  servant  who  perceives  in  his 
master  a  similarly  enthroned  dignity,  will  create 
between  themselves  a  relationship  which  will 
be  the  channel  of  "the  river  of  the  water  of 
life."  "  Give  honour  unto  the  woman,"  and  to 
preserve  that  sense  of  reverent  perceptiveness, 
a  man  must  dwell  in  "the  secret  place  of  the 
most  High." 

What  is  the  last  lineament  in  this  ideal 
portraiture  ?  How  else  must  the  husband  live  ? 
"  That  your  prayers  be  not  hindered:'  His  Verse  7 
conduct  has  to  be  the  helpmeet  of  his  prayers. 
There  has  to  be  no  discord  between  the  one  and 
the  other.  The  spirit  of  his  supplications  is  to 
be  found  in  his  behaviour.  When  he  has  been 
into  the  garden  of  the  Lord  in  lonely  com- 
munion, the  fragrance  of  the  ilowers  has  to  cling 
to  his  garments  when  he  moves  about  in  the 
common  life  of  the  home.     Here  is  a  man,  living 


112    THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

out  his  own  prayers,  taking  the  spirit  of  his 
communion  into  ordinary  conduct,  so  demeaning 
himself  that  his  highest  aspirations  may  receive 
fulfilment.  Whatever  he  prays  for  he  seeks 
to  be,  finding  a  pertinent  duty  in  every  supplica- 
tion. Who  would  not  covet  such  a  companion- 
ship ?  The  character  of  the  ideal  husband  is 
just  a  beautiful  commingling  of  reasonableness 
and  reverence,  manifesting  itself  in  conduct 
which  is  in  harmony  with  the  range  and  aspira- 
tions of  his  prayers. 

Here,  then,  are  the  spiritual  portraitures  of 
the  wife  and  the  husband  :  on  the  one  hand,  the 
robe  of  purity,  the  ornament  of  modesty,  the 
grace  of  repose  ;  on  the  other  hand,  an  atmo- 
sphere of  reasonableness,  the  temper  of  reverence, 
and  the  conformity  of  conduct  and  prayer. 
What,  now,  in  the  light  of  such  relationships, 
can  be  the  content  of  such  terms  as  "  subjection," 
*'  obedience,"  "  fear  "  ?  The  partners  are  a  wife, 
clothed  in  purity,  walking  in  modesty,  with  a 
reposefulness  of  spirit  which  reflects  the  very 
glory  of  God;  and  a  husband,  walking  with 
his  wife  according  to  knowledge,  bowing  before 
her  in  reverence,  and  pervading  all  his  behaviour 
with  the  temper  of  his  secret  communion  with 
the  Lord.  There  is  no  room  for  lordship,  there 
is  no  room  for  servility.     The  subjection  of  the 


CHAPTER  III.   1-8  113 

one  is  paralleled  by  the  reverence  of  the  other. 
I  say  there  is  no  lordship,  only  eager  helpful- 
ness ;  there  is  no  subjection,  only  the  delightful 
ministry  of  fervent  affection.  The  relationship 
is  a  mutual  ministry  of  honour,  each  willing  to 
be  lost  in  the  good  and  happiness  of  the  other. 
"Wherefore,  "  subject  yourselves  one  to  the  other 
in  the  fear  of  Christ,"  that  in  the  communion  of 
sanctified  affection  you  may  help  one  another  into 
the  light  and  joy  and  blessedness  of  the  Christian. 


BE  PITIFUL 

1  Peter  iii.  8 

Finally^  he  ye  all  likeminded,  compassionate,  loving  as 
brethren,  tenderhearted,  humhleminded. 

"  Be  pitiful  ! "  Here  the  standard  of  authority 
is  set  up  in  the  realm  of  sentiment,  and 
obedience  is  demanded  in  the  domain  of 
feeling  !  I  did  not  anticipate  that  the  Christian 
imperative  would  intrude  into  the  kingdom  of 
the  feelings.  I  thought  that  feelings  would 
lie  quite  outside  the  sphere  of  authority.  I 
thought  that  feelings  could  not  be  made  to 
order,  and  yet  here  is  an  order  in  which  their 
creation  is  commanded  !  "  Be  pitiful !  "  I 
could  have  understood  a  commandment  which 
dealt  with  the  external  incidents  and  manifesta- 
tions of  life.  I  should  not  have  been  surprised 
had  there  been  laid  upon  me  the  obligation  of 
hospitality — hospitality  may  be  commanded. 
But  then,  hospitality  need  not  touch  the  border- 
lands of  feeling.  Hospitality  may  be  generous 
and  plentiful,  and  yet  noble  and  worthy  feeling 


'     CHAPTEE  III.  8  115 

may  be  absent.  Hospitality  may  be  a  matter 
of  form,  and  therefore  it  can  be  done  to  order. 
I  should  not  have  been  surprised  had  I  been 
commanded  to  show  beneficence.  Beneficence 
may  be  exercised  while  sentiment  is  numb.  It 
is  possible  to  have  such  a  combination  as  cal- 
lous prodigality.  Beneficence  may  therefore  be 
created  by  authority.  But  here  in  my  text 
the  imperative  command  enters  the  secret 
sanctuary  of  feeling.  It  is  not  concerned  with 
external  acts:  it  is  concerned  with  internal 
disposition.  It  is  not  primarily  a  service  which 
is  commanded,  but  a  feeling.  But  can  feelings 
be  made  to  order  ?  Charity  can :  can  pity  ? 
Labour  can:  can  love?  "This  is  My  command- 
ment, that  ye  love  one  another."  "  Love  one 
another  with  a  pure  heart  fervently."  "Be 
kindly  affectioned  one  to  another."  "Be  pitiful." 
The  order  is  clear  and  imperative  :  can  I  obey 
it?  Authority  commands  me  to  be  pitiful: 
then  can  pity  be  created  by  an  immediate 
personal  fiat  ?  Can  I  say  to  my  soul,  "  Soul, 
the  great  King  commands  thee  to  be  arrayed 
in  pity ;  bring  out,  therefore,  the  tender  senti- 
ment and  adorn  thyself  with  it  as  with  a  robe"? 
Or  can  a  man  say  to  himself,  "  Go  to ;  this  day  I 
will  array  myself  in  love,  and  I  will  distribute 
influences  of  sweet  and  pure  affection !  I  will 
unseal  my  springs  of  pity,  and  the  gentle  waters 


116  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

shall  flow  softly  through  all  my  common  affairs"? 
Such  mechanicalised  affection  would  have  no 
vitality,  and  such  pity  would  be  merely 
theatrical— of  no  more  reality  or  efficacy  than 
the  acted  pity  of  the  stage.  FeeHngs  cannot 
rise  matured  at  the  mere  command  of  the 
will. 

But,  now,  while  I  may  not  be  able  to 
produce  the  sentiment  of  pity  by  an  act  of 
immediate  creation,  can  I  rear  it  by  a  thoughtful 
and  reasonable  process?  I  cannot  create  an 
apple,  but  I  can  plant  an  apple-tree.  I  cannot 
create  a  flower,  but  I  can  create  the  requisite 
conditions.  I  can  sow  the  seed,  I  can  give  the 
water,  I  can  even  arrange  the  light.  I  can 
devote  to  the  culture  thoughtful  and  ceaseless 
care ;  and  he  who  sows  and  plants  and  waters 
and  tends  is  a  fellow-labourer  with  the  Eternal 
in  the  creation  of  floral  beauty.  What  we 
cannot  create  by  a  fiat  we  may  produce  by  a 
process.  It  is  even  so  with  the  sentiments. 
Feelings  cannot  be  effected  at  a  stroke ;  they 
emerge  from  prepared  conditions.  Pity  is  not 
the  summary  creation  of  the  stage;  it  is  the 
long-sought  product  of  the  school.  It  is  not  the 
offspring  of  a  spasm;  it  is  the  child  of  discipline. 
Pity  is  the  culmination  of  a  process ;  it  is  not 
stamped  as  with  a  die,  it  is  grown  as  a  fruit. 
The  obligation  therefore   centres  round   about 


CHAPTER  III.  8  117 

the  process ;  the  issues  belong  to  my  Lord. 
Mine  is  the  planting,  mine  the  watering,  mine 
the  tending;  God  giveth  the  increase.  When, 
therefore,  I  hear  the  apostolic  imperative,  ''  Be 
pitiful ! "  I  do  not  think  of  a  stage,  I  think  of 
a  garden ;  I  do  not  think  of  a  manufactory,  I 
think  of  a  school. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  process.  "  Be 
pitiful  ! "  That  is  the  expression  of  a  fine 
feeling ;  and  if  life  is  to  be  touched  to  such 
exquisite  issues,  life  itself  must  be  of  fine 
material.  Fine  characteristics  imply  fine 
character.  You  will  not  get  fine  porcelain 
out  of  pudding-stone.  The  exquisiteness  of 
the  result  must  be  hidden  in  the  original 
substance.  If  you  want  rare  issues,  you  must 
have  fine  organic  quality.  Some  things  are 
naturally  coarser  than  others,  and  there  are 
varying  scales  of  refinement  in  their  products. 
The  timber  that  would  make  a  good  railway 
sleeper  would  not  be  of  the  requisite  texture 
for  the  making  of  violins.  I  saw,  only  a  little 
while  ago,  the  exposed  hearts  of  many  varieties 
of  Canadian  timber.  In  some  the  grain  was 
coarse  and  rough ;  in  others  the  grain  was 
indescribably  close  and  compact,  presenting  a 
surface  almost  as  fine  as  the  rarest  marble. 
Their  organic  qualities  were  manifold,  and 
their    destinations   were    as  manifold   as    their 


118  THE  FmST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

grain.    Some  passed  to  rough-and-tumble  usage  ; 
others   passed   to   the   ministry   and  expression 
of  the   finest   art.     These    organic    distinctions 
are    equally    pronounced   when   we   ascend   to 
the      plane     of     animal    life.       The     differing 
grains    of   timber    find    their    analogy  in    the 
differing  constitutions  of  an  ordinary  dray-horse 
and     an    Arab    steed.      You    cannot    harness 
the  two  beasts  to  the  same  burden  and  work. 
The    sensitive    responsiveness   of   the    one,   its 
quivering,  trembling  alertness,  makes  it  fitted 
for   ministries   in  which  the   other   would   find 
no    place.     It   is    again    the   repetition   of   the 
chaste    porcelain    and    the    common    mug.     It 
is  not  otherwise   when  we  reach   the  plane  of 
man.     There  is   the   same   difference   in   grain. 
Our    organic    qualities     are     manifold.      Look 
at   the   difference   in    our  bodies.     Some   have 
bodies   that    are    coarse   and    rough,   dull    and 
heavy,  with   little  or  no   fine   apprehension  of 
the   beauty  and  perfume   and   essences   of  the 
material    world.     Others    have    bodies    of    the 
finest  qualities,  alert  and  sensitive,  responding 
readily    to     the     coming    and     going    of    the 
exquisite  visitors    who   move  in   sky  or  earth, 
on   land   and   sea.     In    our    bodies    we    appear 
to    differ  as  widely  as    Caliban  and  Ariel— the 
thing  of  the  ditch,  and  the  light  and  buoyant 
creature   of   the   air.     Now,  dare  we   push  our 


CHAPTER  III.  8  119 

investigation  further?  Do  these  organic 
differences  appertain  to  the  realm  of  the  soul  ? 
Are  there  not  souls  which  seem  to  be  rough- 
grained,  organically  and  spiritually  coarse? 
The  very  substance  of  their  being,  the  basis 
of  motive  and  thought  and  feeling  and 
ambition,  is  inherently  vulgar,  and  they  seem 
incapable  of  these  finer  issues  of  tender  pity 
and  chaste  affection.  Now,  where  character  is 
rough-grained  fine  sentiments  are  impossible. 
You  can  no  more  elicit  pity  from  vulgarity 
than  you  can  elicit  Beethoven's  Sonatas  from 
undressed  cat-gut.  If  we  would  have  fine 
issues,  we  must  have  rare  character.  If  we 
would  have  rare  pity,  we  must  become 
refined  men. 

What,  then,  can  be  done  ?  Can  we  do  anything 
in  the  way  of  culture  ?  Can  the  organic  quality 
be  changed  ?  Can  we  make  coarseness  retire 
before  the  genius  of  refinement  ?  It  is  surprising 
how  much  we  can  do  in  the  kingdom  of  nature. 
By  assiduous  care  we  can  transform  the  harsh 
and  rasping  crab-apple  into  the  mild  and  genial 
fruit  of  the  table;  and  we  can,  by  persistent 
englect,  drive  it  back  again  into  the  coarseness 
of  the  wilderness.  It  is  amazing  how  you  can 
bring  a  grass-plot  under  discipline,  until  even 
the  rank  grass  seems  to  seek  conformity  with 
the  gentler  turf ;  and  it  is  equally  amazing  how 


120     THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF   PETER 

by  neglect  and  indifference  you  can  degrade 
a  lawn  into  a  common  field.  In  the  realm 
of  garden  and  field  organic  qualities  can  be 
changed.  Does  the  possible  transformation 
cease  when  we  reach  the  kingdom  of  man? 
Can  dull  and  heavy  bodies  be  refined?  Is  it 
possible  to  alter  the  organic  quality  of  a  man's 
flesh  ?  It  is  much  more  possible  than  the 
majority  of  people  assume.  By  thoughtful 
exercise,  by  reasonable  diet,  by  firm  restraint, 
by  "  plain  living  and  high  thinking,"  it  is 
possible  to  drive  the  heaviness  out  of  our 
bodies,  and  to  endow  them  with  that  organic 
refinement  which  will  be  the  revealing  minister 
of  a  new  world.  Can  the  transformation  proceed 
further  ?  Let  me  propound  the  question  which 
is  perhaps  one  of  the  greatest  questions  that 
can  come  from  human  lips :  Is  it  possible  to  go 
into  the  roots  and  springs  of  character,  into  the 
primary  spiritual  substance  which  lies  behind 
thought  and  feeling,  and  change  the  organic 
quality  of  the  soul  ?  If  this  can  be  done,  the 
creation  of  pity  is  assured  !  If  the  coarse  fibres 
of  the  soul  can  be  transformed  into  delicate 
harp-strings,  we  shall  soon  have  the  sweet  and 
responsive  music  of  sympathy  and  affection ! 
Can  it  be  done?  Why,  this  transformation 
is  the  very  glory  of  the  Christian  evangel ! 
What     do     we     want     accomplishing  ?       "We 


CHAPTER  III.  8  121 

want  the  secret  substance  of  the  life  chastened 
and  refined,  that  it  may  become  vibratory  to 
the   lives     of    our    fellows.      What   think  you 
then  of  this  evangel?     ''He  sits  as  a  refiner." 
And  what  is  the  purpose  of  the  Eefiner  ?     Let 
the  Apostle  Paul  supply  the  answer,  "  We  are 
renewed    by    His    Spirit    in    the    inner    man." 
The   Eefiner    renews    our   basal    spiritual   sub- 
stance, takes   away  our    drossy  coarseness,  and 
makes  our   spirits  the  ministers  of  refinement. 
And    what    are    the     conditions    of    obtaining 
refinement?    The  conditions  are  found  in  com- 
munion:  ''His   Spirit  in  the   inner    man":    it 
is  fellowship  between   man  and  his  Maker;   it 
is  the  companionship  of  the  soul  and  God.     All 
lofty    communion    is    refining !      All    elevated 
companionships  tend  to  make  me  chaste  !    What, 
then,  must  be  the  transforming  influence  of  the 
companionship  of  the  Highest  ?     We  can  see  its 
ministry  in  the  lives  of   the  saints.     Lay  your 
hand  upon  any  one,  man  or  woman,  who  walks 
in  closest  fellowship  with  the  risen   Lord,  and 
you  will   find   that  the  texture   of  their  life  is 
as  the  choicest  porcelain,  compared  with  which 
all  irreligious  lives  are  as  coarse  and  common 
clay.      By    communion    with    the    Divine    we 
become    "  partakers    of    the     Divine     nature." 
In  fellowship   we   find   the   secret    of    spiritual 
refinement,    and    in    spiritual    refinement    are 


122   THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF   PETER 

found  the  springs  of  sympathy.  To  be  pitiful 
we  must  become  good.  Our  pity  is  born  of 
our  piety. 

But  there  is  a  second  step  in  the  process  to 
which  I  must  briefly  direct  your  thought.  It  is 
not  enough  to  be  organically  refined.  Eefined 
faculties  must  be  exercised.  A  man  may  have 
a  brain  of  very  rare  organic  quality,  and  yet 
the  particular  function  of  the  brain  may  be 
allowed  to  remain  inactive  and  immature.  It  is 
not  enough  for  me  to  become  spiritually  refined ; 
I  must  exercise  my  refined  spirit  in  the  ministry 
of  a  large  discernment.  Now,  for  the  creation 
of  a  wise  and  ready  sympathy,  there  is  no  power 
which  needs  more  continuous  use  than  the  power 
of  the  Imagination.  I  sometimes  think,  look- 
ing over  the  wide  breadths  of  common  life,  that 
there  is  no  faculty  which  is  more  persistently 
denied  its  appropriate  work.  "  Look  not  every 
man  on  his  own  things,  but  every  man  also  on 
the  things  of  others."  Such  vision  calls  for  the 
exercise  of  the  imagination.  "Put  yourself  in 
his  place."  Such  transposition  demands  the 
ministry  of  the  imagination.  If  the  imagination 
be  not  exercised,  we  offer  hospitality  to  the 
shrieking  sisterhood  of  bigotry  and  intolerance. 
If  a  pure  and  refined  imagination  had  been  at 
work,  how  could  an  Anglican  clergyman  have 
declared  that  the  Nonconformists  are  "in  mad 


CHAPTEE  III.   8  123 

alliance  with  Anarchists "  ?  And  if  a  refined 
imagination  had  been  in  exercise,  how  could 
a  Nonconformist  have  spoken  of  the  Bishops 
as  "  caring  little  for  the  cause  of  Christ  so  long 
as  they  could  suffocate  Dissenters  "  ?  How  much 
a  refined  imagination  would  have  helped  in 
the  mutually  sympathetic  understanding  of  Pro- 
Boers  and  Anti-Boers  ?  When  this  faculty  is 
sleeping,  evil  things  are  very  much  awake !  But 
for  my  immediate  purpose  I  am  asking  for  the 
exercise  of  the  imagination  in  respect  to  things 
which  would  be  otherwise  insignificant.  Imagi- 
nation is  second  sight.  Imagination  is  the  eye 
which  sees  the  unseen.  Imagination  does  for 
the  absent  what  the  eye  does  for  the  present. 
Imagination  does  for  the  distant  what  the  eye 
does  for  the  near.  The  eye  is  concerned  with 
surfaces ;  imagination  is  busied  with  depths. 
The  dominion  of  the  eye  terminates  at  the 
horizon ;  at  the  horizon,  imagination  begins. 
Imagination  is  the  faculty  of  realisation ;  it 
takes  a  surface  and  constructs  a  cube  ;  it  takes 
statistics,  and  fashions  a  life.  Here  is  a  surface 
fact :  "  Total  of  patients  treated  in  the  Queen's 
Hospital  during  1901,  31,064."  The  eye  ob- 
serves the  surface  fact  and  passes  on,  and 
pity  is  unstirred.  The  imagination  pauses  at 
the  surface,  lingers  long,  if  perchance  she 
may   comprehend   something  of   its   saddening 


124  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

significance.  Imagination  turns  the  figures 
over;  31,064!  Then  these  afflicted  folk  would 
fill  twenty  buildings,  each  of  them  the  size 
of  the  chapel  at  Carrs  Lane.  Says  Imagina- 
tion, ''  I  will  marshal  the  pain-ridden,  bruised 
crowd  in  procession,  and  they  shall  pass  my 
window  and  door,  one  a  minute,  one  a  minute, 
one  a  minute !  How  long  will  it  take  the 
procession  to  pass  ?  Twenty-one  days  ! "  But 
what  of  the  units  of  the  dark  and  tearful  proces- 
sion? Imagination  gets  to  work  again.  Have 
you  a  child  down  ?  They  are  like  him.  Have  you 
a  brother  falling,  or  a  sister  faint  and  spent? 
They  are  like  them.  Have  you  known  a  mother 
torn  and  agonised  with  pain,  or  a  father  crushed 
and  broken  in  his  prime  ?  They  are  like  him. 
Have  you  gone  down  the  steep  way  to  the 
death-brink,  and  left  a  loved  one  there  ?  Some 
of  these,  too,  have  been  left  at  the  brink, 
and  their  near  ones  are  climbing  up  the  steep 
way  again  alone  !  This  is  how  refined  imagi- 
nation works,  and,  while  she  works,  her  sister, 
Pity,  awakes  and  weeps  !  But  if  pity  is  not 
to  be  smothered  again,  the  aroused  impulse 
must  be  gratified  and  fed.  I  know  that  pity 
can  give  "  ere  charity  begins,"  but  charity 
confirms  pity,  and  strengthens  and  enriches  it. 
Feelings  of  pity,  which  do  not  receive  fulfilment 
in  charity  or  service,   may  become   ministers 


CHAPTER  III.  8  125 

of  petrifaction.  Let  our  piety  be  the  basis  of 
our  pity;  let  our  imagination  extend  our 
vision;  and  from  this  area  of  hallowed  out- 
look there  will  arise  rivers  of  gracious  sympathy, 
abundantly  succouring  the  children  of  pain 
and  grief. 


CHEIST  SANCTIFIED  AS  LOED 

1  Petee  iii.  8-15 

Finally^  he  'ye  all  likeminded,  compassionate^  loving  as 
"brethren,  tenderhearted,  humhleminded :  not  rendering  evil 
for  evil,  or  reviling  for  reviling  ;  hut  contrariwise  Messing; 
for  hereunto  were  ye  called,  that  ye  should  inherit  a  blessing. 
For,  He  that  would  love  life,  and  see  good  days,  let  him 
refrain  his  tongue  from  evil,  and  his  lips  that  they  speak  no 
guile  :  and  let  him  turn  away  from  evil,  and  do  good  ;  let 
him  seek  peace,  and  pursue  it.  For  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  are 
upon  the  righteous,  and  his  ears  unto  their  supplication: 
hut  the  face  of  the  Lord  is  upon  them  that  do  evil.  And 
who  is  he  that  will  harm  you,  if  ye  he  zealous  of  that  which 
is  good  ?  But  and  if  ye  should  suffer  for  righteousness' 
sake,  blessed  are  ye :  and  fear  not  their  fear,  neither  he 
troubled ;  hut  sanctify  in  your  hearts  Christ  as  Lord :  being 
ready  always  to  give  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  you  a 
reason  concerning  the  hope  that  is  in  you,  yet  with  meekness 
and  fear. 

Verse  15  "  Sanctify  in  your  hearts  Christ  as  Lord.^^  The 
heart  is  a  sanctuary.  It  is  a  place  of  worship. 
"Worship  is  always  proceeding.  There  is  a  large 
congregation.  Who  are  the  worshippers  ?  Let 
me  name  a  few.  There  are  our  wishes,  our 
ambitions,  our  motives,  our  willings.  All  these 
are  worshippers,  bowing  in  the  heart  before 
126 


CHAPTEE  III.  8-15  127 

some  enthroned  and  sovereign  Lord.  Our  dis- 
positions are  also  among  the  crowd.  All  the 
forces  of  thought  and  feeling  are  mingled  in 
the  varied  congregation  !  Go  into  the  sanctuary 
of  any  heart,  and  you  will  find,  kneeling  side  by 
side  in  homage  and  obeisance,  wishes,  motives, 
sentiments,  purposes,  dispositions,  all  bowing 
before  some  central  shrine.  Who  is  the  Lord 
of  the  temple  ?  In  some  temples  it  is  Mammon  ! 
He  is  sanctified  as  Lord,  and  round  him  are 
kneeling  the  congregated  thoughts,  passions, 
and  ambitions,  oifering  him  incense,  supplication, 
and  praise.  Who  is  the  Lord  ?  In  some  temples 
it  is  the  Lord  of  Misrule.  He  is  sanctified  as 
Lord !  Chaos  reigns,  and  in  riotous  disorder  the 
mob  of  tumultuous  thoughts  and  feelings  offer 
him  noisy  acclamation.  Who  is  the  Lord  of  the 
temple  ?  In  some  temples  indifference  is  en- 
throned. Indifference  is  sanctified  as  Lord! 
The  atmosphere  is  opiated ;  life  is  a  lounge ; 
everything  comes  and  goes  in  carelessness ;  all 
the  worshippers  are  narcotised  in  thoughtlessness, 
or  sunk  in  profound  and  perilous  sleep.  Who  is 
the  Lord  of  the  temple  ?  In  some  temples  it  is 
the  devil.  Every  worshipper  bends  in  adoration 
of  vice,  reciting  the  liturgy  of  uncleanness, 
and  every  member  of  the  congregation,  every 
thought,  every  feeling,  every  ambition,  bears 
upon  its  forehead  the  mark  of  the  beast.     Who 


128  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

is  the  Lord  of  the  temple  ?  In  some  temples  it 
is  the  Christ.  All  the  assembled  forces  and 
powers  of  the  life  willingly  prostrate  themselves 
in  fervent  and  lowly  worship.  Every  hour  of 
the  day  there  is  a  worshipper  in  the  radiant 
temple  !  Now  it  is  a  wish,  now  a  shaping  plan, 
now  a  completed  purpose,  now  a  penitent 
feeling,  now  a  gay  delight — these  all  stoop  in 
reverent  homage  before  the  exalted  Christ,  and 
as  we  always  appropriate  the  worth  of  the  object 
we  worship,  the  bending  congregation  of  thoughts 
and  sentiments  acquire  the  beauty  of  the  Lord. 
The  worshipping  motive  is  chastened  and  refined; 
the  kneeling  wish  is  etherealised ;  the  stooping 
sorrow  is  transfigured  ;  all  the  reverent  forces 
of  the  personality  are  transformed  into  children 
of  light.  Who  is  the  Lord  in  the  temple? 
That  is  the  all-determining  question.  "  Sanctify 
in  your  hearts  Christ  as  Lord."  In  your  temple 
let  the  Christ  be  enthroned.  Let  everything  in 
the  life  be  made  to  kneel  in  that  sanctuary. 
Bring  ye  everything  to  the  foot  of  the  great 
white  throne.  Let  the  Lord  be  King  !  "  Little 
Verse  15  children,  keep  yourselves  from  idols." 

^''Sanctify  in  your  hearts  Christ  as  Lord^ 
That  is  the  creative  centre  of  the  passage.  All 
the  surrounding  context  is  resultant  and  con- 
sequent. This  is  the  all-originating  fountain! 
Around  it  are  stretches  of  land,  threaded  with 


CHAPTER  III.  8-15  129 

rivers  which,  are  the  children  of  its  creative 
springs.  Let  us  pass  from  the  springs  to  the 
rivers.  If  Clirist  be  sanctified  in  the  heart  as 
Lord,  if  everything  in  the  deep,  secret  places  of 
the  life  bow  before  His  throne,  if  at  Matins  and 
Evensong,  and  through  all  the  intervening  hours 
of  the  day,  the  endless  procession  of  mystic 
forces  in  the  soul  reverently  bend  to  His 
dominion,  what  will  be  the  quality  of  the  issues, 
what  will  be  the  striking  characteristics  of  the 
life? 

Are  you  surprised  that  the  apostle's  answer 
begins  with  an  enumeration  of  the  softer  graces  : 
"  compassionate,  tenderhearted,  hunibleminded  "  ?  Verse  8 
Did  you  anticipate  that  he  would  begin  with 
^attributes  more  majestic,  more  manly  and  com- 
manding ?  Is  it  disappointing  that  the  apostle 
should  give  emphasis  to  graces  which  we  com- 
monly associate  with  women  rather  than  with 
men  ?  I  have  called  them  the  softer  graces ; 
perhaps  I  ought  to  have  called  them  the  riper 
fruit.  The  ultimate  expression  of  the  strongest 
tree  is  its  sweetest  and  ripest  fruit.  The  tender, 
exquisite  colour  of  a  ripening  acorn  is  the  finest 
expression  of  the  oak.  Hearts  of  oak  reach 
their  finished  achievement  in  the  softest  hues 
of  their  ripest  fruit.  Manliness  is  never  perfected 
until  it  issues  in  tenderest  grace.  Therefore  I 
am   not   surprised   to   find   the    apostle    giving 


130  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

prominence  to  the  finished  and  ripened  attain- 
ments in  sanctified  life.  What,  again,  are  their 
names  ? 
Verses  ''''CoTnpassionP  The  range  of  a  man's  life  is 
just  the  range  of  his  compassions,  which  is  only 
another  name  for  the  range  of  his  correspond- 
ences. Death  is  just  the  destruction  of  all 
correspondence.  The  dying  lose  correspondence 
after  correspondence ;  nerve  after  nerve  and 
sense  after  sense  collapse  ;  communications  are 
slowly  broken ;  and  by  gradual  paralysis  and 
benumbment  all  correspondences  end.  The 
measure  of  my  life  is  determined  by  the  quality 
and  quantity  of  my  correspondences.  This  is 
true  of  the  life  of  the  flesh.  It  is  true  in  the 
realm  of  the  mind.  How  much  am  I  in  touch 
with  ?  What  is  the  range  of  my  interests  ? 
What  are  my  correspondences?  It  is  true  in 
the  domains  of  the  soul.  How  much  do  I  live  ? 
That  depends  upon  my  compassion,  my  re- 
sponsiveness, my  "  correspondence."  What  is 
the  extent  of  my  fellow-feeling?  What  is  my 
power  of  apprehending  and  realising  my  brother, 
and  by  the  ministry  of  an  unveiling  imagination 
planting  myself  in  the  heart  of  his  interests  and 
estate?  That  is  one  of  the  rarest  attainments 
in  the  sanctified  life.  The  Lord  refines  His 
disciples  into  compassionateness.  He  indefinitely 
enlarges    their    correspondences.      He    endows 


CHAPTER  III.  8-15  131 

them  with  sensitive  passion,  with  profundity  of 
feeling.  ''Deep  calleth  unto  deep,"  and  they 
maintain  fruitful  fellowship  with  the  joys  and 
sorrows  of  their  fellow-men. 

"  Tenderheartedness.'"  That  carries  one  a  step  verse  8 
further  than  compassion.  Tenderheartedness 
is  more  than  correspondence ;  it  is  gentle 
ministry.  It  includes  the  service  of  the  tender 
hand.  It  not  only  feels  the  pains  of  others ;  it 
touches  the  wounds  with  exquisite  delicacy. 
Even  the  pitiful  man  can  be  clumsy.  Six  men 
may  have  the  sympathy,  but  only  one  of  the  six 
may  be  able  to  touch  the  wound  so  as  to  heal 
it.  The  Lord  will  add  a  gentle  hand  to  our 
compassion.  He  will  take  away  all  brusqueness, 
all  spiritual  clumsiness,  so  that  in  the  very 
ministry  of  pity  we  may  not ''  break  the  bruised 
reed,  nor  quench  the  smoking  flax." 

"  Humblemindedness.'^  Surely  that  adds  a  verse  8 
still  richer  bloom  to  the  heavenly  grace !  The 
Lord  will  not  only  give  us  a  heart  of  compassion ; 
it  shall  be  compassion  rid  of  all  brusqueness ; 
it  shall  also  be  purged  of  all  superciliousness 
and  pride !  It  shall  be  "  humbleminded." 
Even  pity  may  wear  some  of  the  garments 
of  pride !  There  is  something  bitter  and 
offensive  in  all  compassion  which  moves  in 
patronage.  The  Man  whose  "compassions 
failed  not"  was  "meek   and  lowly  in   heart!" 


132  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OP  PETER 

Pity  is  petrifying  when  it  conies  from  pride  ;  it 
is  soothing  and  healing  when  it  flows  from  the 
humble  mind,  and  this  is  the  perfected  grace  of 
the  sanctified  life. 
Verse  9      "  ^ot   rendering   evil  for   evil,    or  reviling  for 
reviling;  but  contrariwise  blessing."    Surely  that 
is  the  perfection  of   compassion !      Compassion 
may  go  out  on  chivalrous  errands  with  sensitive 
hands    and    lowly   mind,    and   may  meet   with 
ingratitude  and  angry  rebuff  from  those  whom 
she   seeks   to    serve.      When  the  one  we  have 
been  compassionately  nursing  turns  and  reviles 
us,  and  treats  0ur  ministry  with  contempt,  how 
easy  it  is  to  become  sour  and  hard,  to   return 
reviling   for    reviling,    and    to    throw    up    the 
knightly  service  with  disgust!      But  the   Lord 
will  so  perfect  the  compassion  that  even  in  the 
midst  of  reviling  it  will  continue  in  '^  blessing," 
and  in  atmospheres  of  ingratitude  and  contempt 
will  toil  on  in  the  ministry  of  "healing  them 
that  are  bruised."     What  say  you  now  to  these 
softer  graces,  these  riper  fruits  of  the  sanctified 
life  ?     Are   they  not  a  resplendent  issue  ?     He 
who  continually,  in  his  heart,  sanctifies   Christ 
as   Lord,  becomes   possessed   by    a   compassion 
which   moves   in  delicate  sensitiveness,  and  in 
humblemindedness,    and   which    remains   sweet 
and  persistent  in  hostile  atmospheres  of   mur- 
muring and  contempt. 


CHAPTER  III.  8-15  133 

Now  let  us  turn  to  the  sterner  products  of 
the  sanctified  life.  Let  us  turn  to  the  hearts- 
of-oak  of  which  the  softer  graces  are  the  per- 
fected fruit.  Let  us  contemplate  the  severer 
virtues,  the  more  commanding  strength. 

^^ Zealous  of  that  which  is  good"     That  sounds  verse  13 
suggestive  of  strength  !     "  Clarify  your  concep- 
tion of  duty  !     Get  it  clearly  in  your  eye  !     Set 
the  good  firmly  before  you !     Then  be  zealous  !  " 
Such  is  the  strong,  definite  virtue  which  is  the 
fruit  of  the    sanctified   life.      "  Zealous   of  the 
good  ! "     You  will  get  the  native  energy  of  the 
word    "  zealous "    if     you    recall    its    kinsman 
"  jealous."     It  is  significant  of  consuming  eager- 
ness and  ceaseless  vigilance.      It  is  suggestive 
of  burning  passion.     There  towers  the  '*  good ! '' 
The  "  zealous  "  soul  confronts  it,  not  with  faint 
and  timid  aspiration,  but  possessed  by  a  blazing 
and   driving   ambition !      The   strength   of  his 
passion  is  the  measure  of  his  defence.     You  may 
play  tricks  with  a  candle-flame  ;  you  must  give 
margin  to  a  bonfire.     You  may  trifle  with  the 
lukewarm ;    who    would    try    it    on    with    the 
zealot  ?     You  may  carry  an  evil  suggestion  to 
one  man,  and  quite  unembarrassed  you  may  lay 
it  across  the  threshold  of  his  mind.     You  may 
take  the  suggestion  to  another  man,  and  before 
you  have  got  out  of  the  preface  you  are  scorched 
and  consumed.     There  are  lives  so  sanctified  by 


134  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

the  indwelling  Christ  that  they  blight   all  evil 
approaches,  and   cause   them  to   wither   away. 
Their  iire  is  their  defence.     That  is  a  wonderful 
figure    employed   by  the   prophet—"  clad   with 
zeal  as  a  cloak."     The  man  wears  a  protective 
garment   of   fire !      He   is   secured   in   his   own 
enthusiasms  !     He  is  preserved  in  the  spirit  of 
burning.     Now,  that  burning  passion  for  "  that 
which  is  good"  is  one  of  the  strengths  of  the 
sanctified  life.     Why,  our  very  word  "  enthusi- 
asm," which  is  now  suggestive  of  ardour,  passion, 
fire,  had  no  such  significance  in  its  earliest  day. 
It  literally  signifies  "  in  God,"  and  it  is  because 
men   have   found   that   souls  which   are  united 
with  God  are  characterised  by  zeal  and  fire,  that 
the  word  has  lost  its  causal  content,  and  is  now 
limited  to  the  description  of  the   effect.      The 
enthusiastic  is  the  fiery,  but  fiery   because   in 
fellowship  with   God.     "He   shall  baptize  .  .  ; 
with   fire."      One   of    the   resultant   virtues   of 
sanctification  is  spiritual  enthusiasm,  a  zeal  for 
"  that  which  is  good." 
Verse  14      "  Suffering    for    righteousness'    saJce.^^       That 
sounds  like  a  masculine  virtue  !     It  is  a  phrase 
which  unveils  a  little  more  of  the  firm  strength 
of  this   spiritual   ambition!       The   zealot   goes 
right  on,  with  "the  good"  as  his   goal,  suffer- 
ing loss,  if  need  be,  of   ease  and   comfort   and 
wealth    and    fame,   and    counting    the   loss   as 


CHAPTEE  III.  8-15  135 

^^  blessed'^  if  only  it  help  him  in  the  way  of 
spiritual  attainment.  This  is  the  character  of 
spiritual  enthusiasts!  "We  may  reserve  for 
such  character  whatever  criticism  we  please, 
we  cannot  deny  it  the  eulogium  of  "  strength." 
At  any  rate  it  is  not  weak  and  effeminate. 
There  is  something  about  it  granitic  and 
majestic  !  Christ  Jesus  makes  men  and  women 
who  despise  ease,  who  are  "  ready  to  be  offered," 
who  will  plod  through  toils  and  pains  and 
martyrdom  if  these  lie  in  the  way  of  duty 
and  truth.  Only  a  few  months  ago  our 
little  chapels  outside  Pekin  were  destroyed  by 
the  Boxers,  and  the  majority  of  the  native 
Christians  foully  murdered.  The  chapels  are 
being  erected  again.  I  have  read  the  account 
of  the  opening  of  one  of  these  restored 
sanctuaries.  And  who  took  part  in  the  re- 
opening ?  The  remnant  of  the  decimated 
church!  Men  stood  there  whose  wives  and 
children  had  been  butchered  in  the  awful 
carnival ;  there  they  stood,  their  love  undimmed, 
their  faith  unshaken,  themselves  "  ready  to  be 
offered  "  in  their  devotion  to  the  Lord  !  I  say, 
give  to  it  any  criticism  you  please,  you  cannot 
deprive  it  of  the  glory  of  superlative  strength ! 
''  They  rejoiced  that  they  were  counted  worthy 
to  suffer  shame  for  His  name."  That  is  the 
product  of  the  sanctified  life.     The  Lord  lifts  us 


136  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

above  the  common  fear.  See  how  the  passage 
Verse  14  proceeds  :  ^^  And  fear  not  their  fear ^  neither  he 
troubled^'  That  is  the  characteristic  which  is 
even  now  shining  resplendently  in  the  lives  of 
the  native  Christians  in  China.  They  have  been 
gloriously  delivered  from  common  fear  and 
distraction.  They  are  fearless  and  collected, 
quietly  prepared  to  "  suffer  for  righteousness' 
saLe,"  and  stropgly  holding  on  the  way  of  life, 
"  zealous  of  that  which  is  good."  "  Unto  them 
it  is  given  on  the  behalf  of  Christ,  not  only 
to  believe  in  His  name,  but  also  to  suffer  for 
His  sake." 

Now,  let  me  sum  up  my  exposition.  The 
fruits  of  the  sanctified  life  are  to  be  found  in 
the  tender  graces  and  in  commanding  virtues,  in 
compassion,  sensitive  and  humbleminded,  and 
in  moral  and  spiritual  enthusiasm  which  is 
perfectly  devoid  of  fear.  Now,  do  you  not 
think  that  where  these  soft  compassions  flow 
and  these  sterner  virtues  dwell— river  and  rock 
Verse  15  — a  man  will  be  able  to  "  give  answer  to  every 
man  that  asketh  a  reason  concerning  the  hope  that 
is  in  him  "  ?  The  finest  reason  a  man  can 
give  for  a  spiritual  hope  is  a  spiritual  experience. 
What  have  I  seen,  and  heard,  and  felt,  and 
known?  In  these  experiences  I  shall  find 
invincible  reasons  in  days  of  inquiry  and  con- 
troversy.    If  a  man  has  sanctified  in  his  heart 


CHAPTEE  III.  8-15  137 

Christ  as  Lord,  and  discovers  that  his  hardness 
has  been  softened  into  gracious  sympathies,  that 
his  coldness  towards  the  right  has  been  changed 
into  passionate  enthusiasm,  and  that  his 
trembling  timidities  have  given  place  to  firm 
and  fruitful  fearlessness,  has  he  not  a  splendid 
answer  to  give  to  every  man  who  asketh  him  a 
reason  concerning  the  hope  that  is  in  him? 
The  answer  does  not  peep  out  in  an  apologetic 
''  perhaps  "  or  a  trembling  "  if  "  ;  it  is  a  mas- 
culine "  verily,"  a  confident  "  I  know."  As  to 
the  issues  of  such  an  answer  the  apostle  is  clear. 
A  vital  testimony  is  invincible.  Fine  living  is 
not  only  a  fine  argument,  it  is  the  only  ejffective 
silencer  of  bad  men.  "  They  will  be  put  to 
shame  who  revile  your  good  manner  of  life  in 
"  Christ."  Men  may  more  than  match  you  in 
subtlety  of  argument.  In  intellectual  con- 
troversy you  may  suifer  an  easy  defeat.  But 
the  argument  of  a  redeemed  life  is  unassailable. 
"Seeing  the  man  that  was  healed  standing 
with  them,  they  could  say  nothing  against  it." 


BRINGING  US  TO  GOD 

1  Peter  iii.  18-22 

Christ  also  sufered  for  sins  once,  the  righteous  for  the 
unrighteous,  that  He  might  bring  us  to  God ;  being  put  to 
death  in  the  Jksh,  but  quickened  in  the  spirit;  in  which 
also  He  went  and  preached  unto  the  spirits  in  prison,  which 
aforetime  were  disobedient,  when  the  lon^sufferi7ig  of  God 
waited  in  the  days  of  Noah,  while  the  ark  was  a  pre- 
paring, wherein  few,  that  is,  eight  souls,  were  saved  through 
water :  which  also  after  a  true  likeness  doth  now  save  yoUj 
even  baptism,  not  the  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  Jleshy 
but  the  interrogation  of  a  good  conscience  toward  God^ 
through  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ ;  who  is  on  the 
right  hand  of  God,  having  gone  into  heaven ;  angels  and 
authorities  and  powers  being  made  subject  unto  Him. 

The  concluding  passage  of  this  great  chapter 
is  like  a  landscape  in  the  uncertain  light  of  the 
early  morning.  Here  and  there  the  black 
shadows  still  linger  and  prolong  the  night.  The 
hollows  are  filled  with  mist.  A  prevailing 
dimness  possesses  the  scene.  From  only  a  few 
things  has  the  veil  dropped,  and  their  lineaments 
are  seen  in  suggestive  outline.  On  the  whole, 
we  are  dealing  with  obscure  hints,  with  partial 
unveilings,  which  awaken  wonder,  rather  than 
convey  enlightenment.     Perhaps,  in  the  present 

138 


CHAPTER  III.   18-22  139 

stage  of  our  pilgrimage,  an  open-eyed  wonder  is 
more  fruitful  than  an  assurance  begotten  of 
broader  light.  Assurance  may  nourish  sluggish- 
ness ;  an  expectant  wonder  disciplines  the  powers 
to  a  rare  perceptiveness.  But  amid  aU  the 
indefiniteness  of  the  revelation,  there  are  two 
or  three  visions  which  are  sufficiently  clear  to 
enrich  our  thought  and  life.  We  have  glimpses 
of  the  Lord  in  a  threefold  activity.  We  see 
Him  engaged  in  His  redemptive  work  among 
men  upon  earth:  ^'•Christ  also  suffered  for  sins  ^erse  IS 
once,  the  righteous  for  the  unrighteous,  that  Re 
might  bring  us  to  God.'^  We  behold  Him 
ministering  to  spirits  who  have  left  the  sphere 
of  earth,  but  who  are  not  yet  in  reconciled 
fellowship  with  their  God.  "  He  went  and  Verse  19 
preached  unto  the  spirits  in  prison.'^  And  we  see 
Him  again  on  the  throne  of  His  glory  receiving 
the  willing  and  jubilant  homage  of  the  mystic 
powers  who  surround  the  sovereignty  of  God. 
^^  He  is  on  the  right  hand  of  God  .  .  .  angels  and  Verse  22 
authorities  and  powers  being  made  subject  unto 
HimJ^  Let  us  contemplate  these  three  rela- 
tionships.   ' 

"  Christ  also  suffered  for  sins  once."      There  Verse  18 
is   a   reference   to    some    distinct    and    definite 
historical   event.     To   the   apostle   there  was  a 
certain  nameable  season  when  our  redemption 
was   achieved.      The   sufferings   of   the   Master 


140  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

were  infinitely  more  than  momentary  incidents, 
reflecting  the  permanent  mood  of  God.  Christ's 
sufferings  were  altogether  unique.  They  were 
paralleled  by  no  previous  happenings,  and  they 
would  never  be  repeated.  "  Christ  suffered  for 
sins  once";  something  was  done,  done  "once," 
and  done  for  ever.  Therefore,  Gethsemane  and 
Calvary  are  gravely  and  uniquely  significant. 
They  are  more  than  the  tempestuous  ending 
of  a  noble  and  laborious  life.  Behind  their 
appalling  externalities  there  are  more  appalling 
conditions.  Behind  the  loneliness  of  the  garden 
there  is  the  more  awful  loneliness  of  the  soul. 
Behind  the  blackness  of  Calvary  there  is  the 
deeper  darkness  of  the  spirit.  The  real  move- 
ments of  redemptive  ministry  are  not  to  be 
witnessed  in  the  material  setting  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion. The  human  and  material  environment  of 
the  Master's  death  has  dominated  our  thought  too 
much.  I  do  not  think  that  the  material  incidents 
of  Gethsemane  and  Calvary  were  essential  to 
our  redemption.  I  believe  that  if  Christ  had 
never  been  betrayed  by  one  of  the  twelve.  He 
would  still  have  died  for  our  sins.  I  believe 
that  if  He  had  never  suffered  the  brutal  ac- 
companiments of  mockery  and  blasphemy,  and 
the  loathsome  coarseness  of  contemptible  men, 
He  would  still  have  died  for  our  sins.  I  believe 
that  if  He  had  never  been  crucified,  He  would 


CHAPTER  III.   18-22  141 

still  have  died  for  our  sins.  I  believe  that  if 
He  had  finished  His  ministry  in  public  acclama- 
tion, instead  of  public  contempt,  He  would  still 
have  passed  into  outer  darkness,  into  an  un- 
thinkable loneliness,  into  a  terrible  midnight  of 
spiritual  forsakenness  and  abandonment.  He 
came  to  die,  came  to  pass  into  the  night  which 
is  "  the  wages  of  sin,"  and  what  we  men  did 
was  to  add  to  His  death  the  pangs  of  contempt 
and  crucifixion. 

'*  Christ  suffered  for  sins  once."  But  could  not 
sin  have  been  forgiven  without  the  sufferings  ? 
Could  not  sin  have  been  forgiven  without 
abandonment  ?  Might  we  not  have  had  our 
forgiveness  without  that  cry  of  "  forsaken "  ? 
I  ask  these  questions  not  because  I  can  answer 
them,  but  in  order  to  awake  a  reverent  wonder 
and  a  fruitful  awe.  This  I  know,  that  cheap 
forgiveness  always  lightens  sin.  Flippant  for- 
giveness gilds  the  sin  it  forgives,  and  the  sorest 
injury  we  can  do  to  any  man  is  to  lighten  his 
conception  of  the  enormity  of  sin.  The  only 
really  healthy  forgiveness  is  the  forgiveness 
which  pardons  sin  while  at  the  same  time  it 
reveals  it.  This,  at  any  rate,  is  one  of  the 
commanding  glories  of  evangelical  religion — it 
never  makes  light  of  sin.  Nowhere  does  for- 
giveness shine  more  resplendently,  and  nowhere 
does   sin   gloom   more   repulsively,  than  in  the 


142  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

redemptive  love  of  Christ.  In  that  love  we 
behold  both  the  horrors  of  the  midnight  and 
the  quiet,  sunny  glories  of  the  noontide.  "  Christ 
suffered  for  sins  once,"  in  order  that  sin  might 
never  be  glozed  and  veneered.  In  obtaining  our 
forgiveness  by  His  death,  the  Lord  Christ  re- 
vealed His  love  and  unveiled  our  sin. 
Verse  18  "  Christ  suffered  for  sins  .  .  .  that  He  might 
hring  us  to  God.^^  By  the  power  of  His  re- 
demption we  can  make  our  way  home.  He 
is  "  the  way " ;  the  road  has  been  opened  for 
us  by  the  ministry  of  His  grace.  He  is  the 
*'  truth " ;  in  His  redemption  truth  was  not 
dimmed  but  glorified.  He  is  "  the  life  "  ;  in  His 
grace  are  to  be  found  all  the  resources  for 
raising  the  dead  into  the  renewed  and  glorified 
estate  of  children  of  God.  He  suffered,  "that 
He  might  bring  us  to  God."  All  that  need  be 
said  about  that  gracious  "  bringing  "  is  just  this, 
that  in  Jesus,  answering  the  call  of  His  redeem- 
ing grace,  men  and  women  in  countless  numbers 
have  turned  their  faces  home,  and  are  making 
their  way  out  of  the  deadening  bondage  of  sin 
into  the  ''glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God." 

Far,  far  away,  like  bells  at  evening  pealing, 
The  voice  of  Jesus  sounds  o'er  land  and  sea ; 

And  laden  souls,  by  thousands  meekly  stealing. 
Kind  Shepherd,  turn  their  weary  steps  to  Thee. 


CHAPTER  III.   18-22  143 

And  now  the  sphere  of  our  vision  is 
changed.  Our  minds  are  turned  to  another 
aspect  of  the  saving  ministry  of  Christ.  The 
Saviour  has  died.  "  The  great  transaction 's 
done."  He  has  suffered  for  sins  '*  once."  For- 
giveness is  offered  to  all.  What  of  those 
who  have  departed  this  life,  and  have  never 
heard  the  news  of  the  great  redemption  ?  Men 
have  sinned  against  their  light,  they  have 
revolted  against  the  Master.  But  they  have 
lacked  the  unspeakable  advantage  of  hearing 
the  story  of  redemptive  love.  Are  they  to  have 
no  chance  ?  The  souls  '*  tvhich  aforetime  ivere  Verse  2C 
disobedient  .  .  ,  in  the  days  of  Noah^^^  are  they 
to  suffer  for  their  disobedience,  deprived  al- 
together of  the  ministry  of  Christ's  redemption  ? 
Let  the  question  be  stated  with  perfect  frank- 
ness— are  the  sinful,  who  have  never  heard 
of  Jesus,  to  pass  into  the  darkness  of  a 
final  destiny,  a  darkness  which  will  never  be 
illumined  by  the  gospel  and  ministry  of  re- 
demption ?  Here  is  the  scriptural  answer  to 
that  painful  quest :  ^''  He  went  and  'preached  unto  Verse  lo 
the  spirits  in  prison.^'  I  know  we  are  dealing 
with  dim  hints,  and  not  with  bright  revelations, 
but  from  those  words  one  thing  is  clear  to  me, 
that  final  judgment  is  not  to  be  pronounced  on 
any  until  they  have  heard  of  the  redemptive  love 
of  Jesus,  and  have  had  the  offer  and  opportunity 


144  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

of  accepting  it.  No  man's  destiny  is  to  be  fixed 
until  he  has  heard  of  Christ.  The  "  spirits  in 
prison,"  who  have  not  heard  the  gospel  of 
redemption,  are  to  hear  it  in  their  prison-house 
and  are  to  have  the  gracious  offer  which  is 
made  to  you  and  me  to-day.  I  know  the  objec- 
tion which  is  taken  to  this  interpretation.  It 
is  said  to  weaken  the  urgency  of  foreign 
missions,  to  make  men  sluggish  in  the  labour  of 
taking  the  gospel  of  light  to  unillumined  tribes 
and  peoples.  If  the  offer  of  salvation  is  to  be 
made  to  the  ignorant  on  the  other  side  of  death, 
what  special  urgency  is  there  for  strenuous 
labour  in  the  present  ?  That  is  how  many  men 
have  reasoned,  and  how  many  reason  to-day.  If 
the  unenlightened  heathen  are  not  swept  into 
hell,  the  burden  of  the  situation  is  lightened, 
and  the  strain  is  relaxed.  It  is  a  terrific  motive 
to  conceive  that  the  unillumined  multitudes  are 
dropping  over  the  precipice  of  death  into  ever- 
lasting torment.  And  that  has  been  the  con- 
ception of  many  devoted  followers  of  Christ. 
I  was  reading  a  book  the  other  day  in  which 
the  writer  made  the  terrible  declaration  that 
three  millions  of  the  heathen  and  Mohammedans 
are  dying  every  month,  dropping  over  the 
precipice  into  the  awful  night,  swept  into 
eternity  !  Swept  into  what  ?  If  they  go  out 
with   unlit  minds  and  hearts,   are   they  never 


CHAPTER  III.   18-22  145 

to  see  the  gracious  countenance  of  the  Light  of 
Life  ?  "He  went  and  preached  unto  the  spirits 
in  prison."  Again  I  ask,  does  this  destroy  the 
urgency  of  foreign  missions,  and  will  it  lull  the 
heart  of  the  Church  to  sleep?  Where  are 
we  if  the  motive  of  our  missions  and  ministry 
is  to  save  people  from  the  fires  of  hell  ? 
Apart  altogether  from  salvation  from  torment, 
is  the  Master  Himself  worth  knowing?  Sup- 
posing we  could  now  be  assured  that  every 
soul  in  the  heathen  world  would  be  here- 
after rescued  from  the  torments  of  hell,  is  there 
nothing  in  our  Gospel  which  shapes  itself  into 
an  urgent  and  all-constraining  evangel  ?  Seek 
out  some  ripe  old  saint,  who  has  deep  and  in- 
timate intercourse  with  the  Lord  ;  let  her  open 
her  heart  to  you  about  the  glories  of  her  faith ; 
and  you  will  discover  that  the  word  "  hell  "  has 
dropped  out  of  her  vocabulary.  She  is  so  ab- 
sorbed in  the  glories  of  her  Lord,  so  possessed 
by  the  delights  of  daily  companionship,  so  en- 
gaged in  carrying  her  own  God-given  comfort 
to  the  sorrows  of  others,  that  the  house  of 
torments  has  no  place  in  her  heart.  If  you  ask 
her  the  nature  of  the  evangel  she  carries  about 
with  her,  this  will  be  her  reply: 

God  only  knows  the  love  of  God, 
Oh  that  it  now  were  shed  abroad 
In  every  human  heart! 


146  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

The  real  missionary  motive  is  not  to  save 
from  hell,  but  to  reveal  the  Christ ;  not  to 
save  from  a  peril,  but  to  proclaim  and  create 
a  glorious  companionship.  Here  is  the  marrow 
of  the  controversy,  concentrated  into  one 
pressing  question :  7s  it  of  infinite  moment  to 
know  Christ  now?  Assume  that  there  are 
now  men  and  women  in  the  heathen  world 
who  are  to  remain  upon  the  earth  for  the  next 
twenty  years,  and  it  is  in  our  power  to  make 
those  twenty  years  a  season  of  hallowed  fellow- 
ship with  the  Lord,  is  it  worth  the  doing? 
Even  further  assuming  that  if  they  pass 
through  death  unenlightened,  they  will  hear 
the  message  of  reconciliation  in  the  beyond, 
is  it  worth  our  while  to  light  up  those 
twenty  years  with  the  gracious  light  of  re- 
demptive grace  ?  What  is  the  money-value 
of  an  hour  with  the  Lord?  I  do  not  address 
my  question  to  the  unredeemed,  for  the  unre- 
deemed have  no  answer,  and  in  them  the 
missionary-motive  has  no  place.  I  speak  to 
those  who  have  accepted  the  offer  of  reconciling 
love,  and  who  know  the  power  of  the  Lord's 
salvation,  and  of  them  I  ask — "What  is  the 
money-value  of  an  hour  with  the  Lord  ? 
"  Beyond  all  knowledge  and  all  thought.'^ 
Carry  your  values  across  to  the  regions  of 
ignorance  and  night.     To  be  able  to  give  ond 


CHAPTER  III.   18-22  147 

"  day  of  the  Son  of  Man  "  to  some  poor  old  soul 
in  heathendom :  to  lighten  one  day's  load ;  to 
transfigure  one  day's  sorrow ;  to  lift  the  burden 
of  his  passion ;  to  create  a  river  of  kindliness  ; 
to  light  his  lamp  in  the  evening-time,  and  to 
send  him  through  the  shadows  in  the  assurance 
of  immortal  hope, — is  it  worth  the  doing ?  "A 
day  in  Thy  courts  is  better  than  a  thousand." 
Such  is  the  value  of  a  day  with  the  Lord.  We 
are  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  grace.  Because 
we  have  them  we  owe  them.  Woe  be  to  us  if 
through  our  thoughtlessness  we  leave  our  fellow- 
men  in  days  of  burdensome  terror  and  night, 
when  by  our  ministry  we  might  have  led  them 
into  the  peace  and  liberty  of  the  children 
of  light. 

And  now  the  sphere  of  the  Lord's  activity 
is  again  changed.  The  apostle  next  turns  our 
minds  to  the  Lord's  enthronement  and  dominion. 
He  "  ^s  on  the  right  hand  of  God^  having  gone  Verse  22 
into  heaven;  angels  and  authorities  and  'powers 
being  made  subject  unto  HimJ^  I  need  that 
conception  of  the  Christ!  I  know  Him  as  a 
Sufferer,  despised  and  lonely,  sharing  our 
frailties,  and  hastening  on  to  death.  I  know 
Him  as  "  a  Man  of  Sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief."  I  need  to  know  Him  as  the  risen  and 
glorified  King,  moving  in  supreme  exaltations, 
receiving  the   glad   and    reverent    homage    of 


148  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF   PETER 

"  the  spirits  that  surround  the  throne."     I  have 
seen  Him  weep ;  I  have  seen   Him   wearied   at 
the  well ;  I  have   heard   Him   cry   **  I   thirst " ; 
I  have  heard  the   still  more   awful   cry   "For- 
saken !  "     Now  I  would  see  Him,  "  with  a  name 
above  every  name,"  highly  exalted,"  "  angels  and 
authorities  and  powers  being  made  subject  unto 
Him."     We  are  timid,  and  nerveless,  and  hope- 
less,  lacking   in   spiritual    energy   and   persist- 
ence,  crawling   in   reluctance  when   we   ought 
to  speed   like   conquerors,  and  all  because  we 
do  not  realise  the  majestic  lordship  of  our  King. 
"  All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  on 
earth."     What  kind  of  followers  ought  that  to 
create?        Surely  it   ought   to   be   creative   of 
disciples   who   can  "strongly  live    and    nobly 
strive."     Soldiers  will  dare  anything  when  they 
have  confidence  in  the  strength  and  wisdom  of 
their  general.      His  commands  are  their  possi- 
bilities, and  they  are  eager  to  turn  them  into 
sure  achievements.     We  have  a  brave  Captain, 
seated  upon  the  throne,  and  exercising  universal 
sovereignty.     Surely  we  ought  to  march  in  the 
spirit  of  assured  conquest.     We  ought  to  attack 
every   stronghold    of    sin    with    confidence,    as 
though   the   dark   citadel  were   already  falling 
into  ruin.     The   Lord   wishes   His    disciples   to 
begin    all    enterprises    in   the   knowledge   that 
victory  is   secured.     "  Believe   that   ye   receive 


CHAPTER  III.   18-22  149 

them  and  ye  shall  have  them.'^  That  is  the 
spirit  of  victory. 

All  this  redemptive  power  may  become  ours 
by  baptism,  but  not  the  baptism  that  consists 
in  any  outward  sprinkling  of  external  cleansing. 
"Not  by  the  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the 
flesh."  We  need  to  be  lifted  above  the  filth 
of  the  spirit,  and  so  the  baptism  must  be  an 
inspiration.  There  must  be  poured  into  our 
life  rivers  of  energy  from  the  risen  Lord. 

That  cleansing  flood  will  create  within  us 
moral  soundness.  "We  shall  attain  unto  "  a  good 
conscience."  Our  lives  will  be  set  in  "  interroga- 
tion toward  God."  Our  souls  will  be  possessed 
by  a  reverent  inquisitiveness,  and  they  will  be 
over  searching  among  the  deep  things  of  God. 


THE   SUFFEEING  WHICH  MEANS 
TEIUMPH 

1  Peter  iv.  1-6 

Forasmuch  then  as  Christ  suffered  in  the  jksh^  arm 
ye  yourselves  also  with  the  same  mind ;  for  he  that  hath 
suffered  in  the  flesh  hath  ceased  from  sin ;  that  ye  no 
longer  should  live  the  rest  of  your  time  in  the  flesh  to  the 
lusts  of  men,  but  to  the  will  of  God.  For  the  time  past  may 
suffice  to  have  wrought  the  desire  of  the  Gentiles,  and  to 
have  walked  in  lasciviousness,  lusts,  ivinehihhings,  revellings, 
carousings,  and  abominable  idolati^ies :  wherein  they  think 
it  strange  that  ye  run  not  with  them  into  the  sarae  excess  of  riot, 
speakiTig  evil  of  you :  who  shall  give  account  to  Him  that  is 
ready  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.  For  unto  this  end 
was  the  gospel  preached  even  to  the  dead,  that  they 
might  be  judged  according  to  men  in  the  flesh,  but  live 
according  to  God  in  the  spirit. 

Verse  1  ''Forasmuch  then  as  Christ  suffered  in  the  flesh  J  ^ 
Do  not  let  us  so  think  of  the  sufferings  of 
Christ  as  to  relegate  them  to  the  last  few 
days  of  His  earthly  ministry.  It  is  well  to 
confine  the  great  term,  "  the  passion,"  to  the 
awful  events  of  Gethsemane  and  Calvary.  In 
the  midnight  of  the  latter  days  the  happenings 
are  unspeakable.  On  Calvary  the  sufferings 
not     only     culminate;     they     become    unique. 

150 


CHAPTEH  IV.   1-6  151 

They  detach  themselves  from  the  common  lot, 

and  pass  into  the  pangs  of  a  lonely  and  terrible 

isolation  whose  supreme   bitterness   cannot  be 

shared. 

We  may  not  know,  we  cannot  tell 
What  pains  He  had  to  bear. 

It  is  well  to  mark  these  appalling  hours  by  the 
distinctive  term,  *'  the  passion."  But  we  must  not 
allow  "the  passion"  to  eclipse  the  sufferings  of  the 
earlier  days.  Christ  always  "  suffered  in  the 
flesh."  The  streak  of  blood  lay  like  a  red  track 
across  the  years.  The  marks  of  sacrifice  were 
everywhere  pronounced.  What  occasioned  the 
common  sufferings  ?  Here  is  the  explanation. 
His  life  was  dominated  by  a  supreme  thought ; 
it  was  controlled  by  an  all-commanding  pur- 
pose. "What  was  the  purpose  ?  What  was  the 
prevailing  characteristic  of  His  mind?  "I  do 
always  those  things  that  please  Him."  He  has 
translated  that  purpose  of  obedience  into 
counsel  for  His  disciples :  '^  Seek  ye  first  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness."  That 
was  the  mind  of  the  Master.  He  made  his 
abode  in  the  unseen.  He  sought  His  gratifica- 
tions in  the  eternal.  He  rejected  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  flesh.  He  subordinated  the 
temporal.  He  uncrowned  the  body,  making  it 
a  common  subject,  and  compelling  it  into 
obeisance     to     high     commands.      In    all    the 


162  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETEK 

competing  alternatives  that  presented  them- 
selves, priority  was  given  to  the  spiritual.  The 
allurements  of  ease,  the  piquant  flavours  of 
pleasurable  sensations,  the  feverish  delights  of 
passion,  the  delicious  thrill  of  popular  acclama- 
tion, the  sweetness  of  immediate  triumph:  all 
these  many  and  varied  offspring  of  the  temporal 
were  not  permitted  to  be  regnant;  they  were 
not  allowed  to  usurp  the  place  of  executive 
and  determining  forces ;  they  were  muzzled 
and  restrained,  and  kept  to  the  rear  of  the  life. 
Christ  looked  "  not  at  the  things  which  are 
seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen." 
Such  was  the  mind  of  the  Master. 

Now,  emphasis  of  this  kind  inevitably  neces- 
sitates suffering.  No  man  can  give  pre-emi- 
nence to  the  unseen  without  the  shedding  of 
blood.  When  the  immediate  contends  with  the 
apparently  remote,  the  immediate  is  so  urgently 
obtrasive  that  to  hold  it  down  entails  a  cruci- 
fixion. When  carnality  contends  with  con- 
science, the  healthy  settling  of  the  contention 
necessitates  suffering.  When  ease  opposes 
duty,  the  putting  down  of  the  fascinating 
enemy  necessitates  suffering.  When  mere 
sharpness  comes  into  conflict  with  truth,  when 
money  seeks  to  usurp  the  throne  of  righteous- 
ness, when  the  glitter  of  immediate  success 
ranges    itself    against   the   fixed    and    glorious 


CHAPTEE  IV.   1-6  153 

constellation  of  holiness,  the  controversies  will 
not  be  settled  in  bloodless  reveries  and  in 
unexhausting  dreams.  To  put  down  the  imme- 
diate and  to  prefer  the  remote,  to  subject  the 
temporal  and  to  choose  the  eternal,  demands 
a  continual  crucifixion.  '^  Christ  also  suffered, 
being  tempted."  Alternatives  were  presented 
to  Him,  and  the  preference  occasioned  the 
shedding  of  blood.  Christ  suffered,  being 
tempted!  The  temptations  were  not  bloodless 
probings  of  the  invulnerable  air.  They  were 
searching  appeals  to  vital  susceptibilities,  and 
resistance  was  pain.  "  Christ  also  suffered  in 
the  flesh."  All  through  the  years  He  had  been 
exercising  the  higher  choice.  Before  He 
emerged  into  the  public  gaze,  in  the  obscure 
years  at  Nazareth,  in  His  early  youth  in  the 
village,  in  the  social  life  of  the  community,  in 
the  little  affairs  of  the  carpenter's  shop,  He 
had  been  denying  Himself  and  taking  up  His 
cross.  He  had  preferred  the  eternal  to  the 
temporal,  and  His  clear,  commanding  con- 
science had  dominated  the  clamours  of  the  flesh. 
This  was  the  emphasis  of  the  Master's  life  ; 
He  "  suffered  in  the  flesh."  Now  such  emphasis 
spells  sinlessness.  When  the  eternal  rules  the 
temporal,  when  the  remotely  glorious  is  pre- 
ferred before  the  immediately  bewitching,  when 
suffering  is  chosen  before  the  violation  of  the 


154  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

moral   and   spiritual  ideal,   the  soul  is  already 
wearing  the  crown  of  the  sinless  life. 

Verse  1  "  He  that  hath  suffered  in  the  flesh  hath  ceased 
from  sin.'"  And  now  the  apostle  takes  up  the 
example  of  the  Master  and  makes  it  a  motive  in 
the  life  of  the  disciple.  ''  Forasmuch  then  as 
Christ  suffered  in  the  flesh,  arm  ye  yourselves 
alsoioith  the  same  mindJ^  What  was  His  mind  ? 
The  preference  and  the  predominance  of  the 
eternal.  "Arm  yourselves  with  the  same 
mind."  Let  the  same  governing  purpose  deter- 
mine the  choices  in  your  life.  In  every  moment 
of  the   little  ,  day  let  the   eternal    rule.      "  No 

Verse  2  longer  live  the  rest  of  your  time  in  the  flesh.'' 
Don't  let  the  flesh  constitute  the  entire  circle 
of  your  movement!  Don't  let  the  temporal 
define  the  boundaries  of  your  journeyings! 
Launch  out  upon  larger  waters !  Live  no 
longer  "^o  the  lusts  of  men."  Don't  follow  the 
feverish  will-o'-the-wisps  that  flit  about  the 
swamps!  But  live  ^^  to  the  will  of  God.'' 
Follow  the  eternal  star!  Let  the  spiritual 
control  aU  the  events  in  your  life,  both  great 
and  smaU,  just  as  the  force  of  gravitation 
dominates  alike  the  swinging  planet  and  the 
mote  that  sports  in  the  sunbeam.  Such  a 
sovereign  purpose  will  necessitate  suffering, 
but    the    purpose    will    of    itself    provide    the 

Verse  1  necessary  defence,      "  Arm  ye  yourselves  also 


CHAPTER  IV.   1-6  155 

with  the  same  mind."  The  exalted  purpose  will 
be  our  armour,  our  assurance  against  destruc- 
tion. If  we  are  wounded,  in  the  wounds  there 
shall  be  no  poison.  If  we  suffer,  in  the  suffer- 
ings there  shall  be  no  disease.  In  the  combat 
there  shall  be  no  fatality.  We  are  "  armed " 
against  destructive  hurt.  "  What  shall  harm 
us  if  we  be  followers  of  that  which  is  good  ?  " 
"As  dying,  yet  shall  we  live."  "  Our  light 
affliction  .  .  .  worketh  for  us  a  weight  of 
glory."  "  Forasmuch  then  as  Christ  suffered 
in  the  flesh,  arm  ye  yourselves  also  with  the 
same  mind." 

From  the  contemplation  of  the  Master's 
''  sufferings  in  the  flesh  "  the  apostle  now  turns 
the  minds  of  his  readers  to  the  contemplation 
of  their  own  yesterdays,  if  perchance  they  may 
find  in  the  retrospect  an  added  force  to  con- 
strain them  to  a  life  of  triumphant  suffering. 
He  has  sought  to  allure  them  to  exalted,  spiritual 
living  by  the  example  of  the  Lord;  now  he 
will  seek  to  drive  them  into  the  same  lofty 
tendency  by  causing  them  to  dwell  upon  their 
own  loathsome  and  appalling  past.  The  re- 
pulsion obtained  from  our  yesterdays  will 
give  impetus  to  the  inclination  to  live  "  to 
the  will  of  God "  to-day.  "  For  the  time  past  Verse  3 
may  suffice  to  have  wrought  the  desire  of  the 
Gentiles,  and  to  have  walked   in  lasciviousnesa^ 


156  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

lusts ^  winebibbings^  revellingSj  carousingSj  and 
abominable  idolatries.^'  What  an  appalling  list ! 
And  how  plainly  worded !  Surely  a  list  like 
that  will  add  the  force  of  recoil  to  the  newty- 
born  inclination  towards  God !  It  is  a  fruitful 
exercise  to  go  into  our  yesterdays,  and  quietly 
meditate  upon  "  our  times  past."  It  is  a 
humbling  and  painful  ministry  to  trace  the  face 
of  the  past,  bit  by  bit,  feature  by  feature,  giving 
to  each  characteristic  its  own  plain  and  legiti- 
mate name.  The  Apostle  Paul  frequently  em- 
ployed this  ministry  when  writing  to  his 
converts.  He  would  never  allow  them  to  forget 
their  yesterdays,  lest  they  should  lose  the 
impetus  that  comes  from  the  retrospect.  "  And 
such  were  some  of  you."  There  you  have  a 
retrospective  glance.  What  had  they  been? 
*' Fornicators,  adulterers,  effeminate,  thieves, 
covetous,  drunkards,  revilers,  extortioners." 
How  black  the  catalogue!  "And  such  were 
some  of  you."  I  think  the  reminder  would  send 
the  converts  to  their  knees  in  intenser  supplica- 
tion. Hear  the  apostle  again  in  his  letter  to 
the  Ephesians:  "In  time  past  ye  walked  ac- 
cording to  the  course  of  this  world,  according 
to  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit 
that  now  worketh  in  the  children  of  dis- 
obedience." I  say  he  will  not  suffer  the  past 
to  be  eclipsed  and  forgotteii,    He  lifts  the  veil, 


CHAPTER  IV.   1-6  157 

and  pointedly  describes  the  terrible  scene. 
And  here  is  the  Apostle  Peter  seeking  to  con- 
firm his  readers'  devotion  by  the  power  of  a 
repulsion,  and  he  turns  their  minds  to  ^'  the 
times  past."  It  is  a  rare  ministry  for  the 
creation  of  sincere  and  agonising  prayer !  A 
man  may  pray,  "  Lead,  kindly  Light,"  and  in 
in  the  utterance  there  may  be  "no  agony  and 
bloody  sweat."  If  he  turn  his  face  to  the 
past,  the  burden  of  his  yesterdays  may  crush 
out  of  his  heart  a  prayer  which  is  more  a 
moaning  cry  than  an  articulate  speech. 

I  was  not  ever  thus,  nor  prayed  that  Thou 

Shouldst  lead  me  on. 
I  loved  to  choose  and  see  my  path,  but  now 

Lead  Thou  me  on ! 
I  loved  the  garish  day,  and,  spite  of  fears 
Pride  ruled  my  will :  remember  not  past  years. 

That  last  prayer  is  just  the  cry  of  an  aching 
and  broken  heart!  The  retrospect  made  him 
a  humble  and  wrestling  suppliant.  That  is  the 
motive  of  the  apostle  in  reminding  his  readers 
of  "the  times  past"  in  their  lives.  He  longed 
to  corroborate  their  new-born  spirituality  by 
the  rebound  acquired  from  the  contemplation  of 
their  own  past.  "  I  thought  over  my  ways,  and 
turned  my  feet  unto  Thy  testimonies." 

Now,  let  us  assume  that  a  man  has  become 
*' armed  with    the    mind"  of  Christ,  that  his 


158  THE   FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETEE 

own  wasted  past  gives  impetus  to  his  renewed 
present,  that  lie  will  pay  homage  to  the  eternal 
even    at    the     cost     of     immediate     suffering; 
what  will  be  the  influence  of  such  a  life  upon 
the   world?      Assume    that    the    "unseen   and 
eternal"    receives   the  emphasis,  that  the  tem- 
poral  is   denied  at  all  costs  if  it  conflict  with 
the   eternal,   how   will   such   a  life  of   mingled 
restraint  and  loftiness  affect  the  world  ?     Here 
Verse  4  is  the  answer.      "  They  think  it  strange  that  ye 
run  not  with  them  into  the  same  excess  of  riot.'' 
"They  think  it  strange!"     They  are   arrested 
in  wonder !     What  is  the  significance  of  this  ? 
That     we     shall     startle     the    world     by    our 
Puritanism.      We  "  run  not  with  them  into  the 
same    excess   of   riot."      They   are   astounded! 
Puritanism  is    arresting.      Do    not    let    us   be 
ashamed  of  the  old  word.     Puritanism  is  most 
vigorously  denounced  where  it  is  least  under- 
stood.    We  need  to  get  back  the  commanding 
characteristics  of  its  life.     We  need  to  recover 
its  broad  principles,  but  not  its  particular  and 
detailed   application.     I  speak  not  now   of  the 
counterfeit   Puritanism   which   expressed    itself 
in  loud  and  eccentric  externahsms,  and  in  much- 
flaunted    and    seH-advertised    piety    and     self- 
denial.     There  is  the  Puritan  described  by  Lord 
Macaulay,    who   was    distinguished   from   other 
men  by  "  his  gait,  his  garb,  his  lank  hair,  the 


CHAPTER  IV.   1-6  159 

sour  solemnity  of  Hs  face,  tlie  upturned  white 
of  bis   eyes,  his  nasal  twang,   and  his  peculiar 
dialect."     That   is   a  Puritanism  for  which   no 
sane  and   healthy   man   desires   a  resurrection. 
But  there  is  the  Puritanism  which  Longfellow 
portrays     in    Miles     Standish ;     there     is     the 
Puritanism   of  John   Milton,   in  whose   poetry 
we  touch  the  very  heart  and  spirit  of  the  great 
awakening.     What,   then,   is  the   characteristic 
ideal   of   true   Puritanism?      It    is    life    whose 
secret  springs  are  governed  by  the  eternal.     It 
is   choice  of  duty  before  ease,   of  ideas  before 
sensations,  of  truth  before  popularity,  of  a  good 
conscience  before  a  full  purse,  of  the  holy  God 
before     dazzling     and     bewitching    Mammon! 
That   is   the   true   Puritanism,    and  that  is   the 
life    whose    glorious    passion    arrests    the    un- 
restrained   and    riotous    world    in    sharp    and 
inquisitive   wonder.      "They   think   it    strange 
that  ye  run  not  with  them  into  the  same  excess 
of  riot."     That  sense  of  wonder  may  ripen  into 
reverence  and  may  issue  in  prayer.     The  con- 
templation of  a  fine  restraint  and  an  unspotted 
integrity  has  often  created  an  uneasiness  which 
has  eventually  led  its  victim  into  the  very  rest 
and   peace    of   God.      But  the  world's  wonder 
does  not  always  mature  into  reverence.     Some- 
times  it   sours  into  resentment,   and  results  in 
a     malignity     which     demands     the    Puritan's 


160  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETEB 

crucifixion.  I  cannot  forget  that  the  men  of 
old  wondered  at  the  Master,  and  then  proceeded 
to  His  crucifixion.  "  They  think  it  strange 
Verse  4  .  .  .  speaJdng  evil  of  you^  They  will  attribute 
your  restraint  to  evil  motives.  The  hiding 
of  your  benevolence  will  be  interpreted  as 
stinginess;  its  expression  will  be  regarded  as 
self-advertisement.  Your  self-denial  will  be 
explained  as  a  cloak  that  conceals  a  deeper 
covetousness ;  your  entire  walk  will  be  de- 
nounced as  inspired  by  Beelzebub,  the  prince 
of  the  devils.  In  the  face  of  such  resentment 
and  reviling  what  shall  the  Puritan  do  ?  What 
says  the  apostle  ?  Just  go  on !  In  the  face 
of  it  all,  just  calmly  persist.  Do  not  return 
reviling  for  reviling.  Leave  them  and  your- 
selves to  the  arbitrament  of  God.  He  knows 
all !  We  must  all  "  give  account  to  Him  that 
is  ready  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead." 
Maintain  the  emphasis !  Proclaim  and  exalt 
the  Eternal!  Live  "not  to  the  lusts  of  the 
flesh,"  but  "to  the  wiU  of  God."  The  path 
of  suffering  is  "the  way  to  glory."  And 
"wisdom  shall  be  justified  of  her  children." 


GETTING  EEADY  FOR  THE  END 

1  Peter  iv.  7-11 

The  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand :  he  ye  therefore  of 
sound  mind,  and  be  sober  unto  jirayer :  above  all  things 
being  fervent  in  your  love  among  yourselves ;  for  love 
cover eth  a  multitude  of  sins :  using  hosjntality  one  to  ^/'^ 
another  without  murmuring :  according  as  each  hath  re- 
ceived a  gift,  ministering  it  ammig  yourselves,  as  good 
stewards  of  the  manifold  grace  of  God;  if  any  man 
speaketh,  speaking  as  it  were  oracles  of  God  ;  if  any  man 
ministereth,  ministering  as  of  the  strength  which  God 
supplieth :  that  in  all  things  God  may  be  glorified  throwjh 
Jesus  Christ,  ivhose  is  the  glory  and  the  dominion  for  ever 
and  ever.    Amen. 

That  is  a  most  momentous  conviction  which 
is  expressed  in  these  words :  "  The  end  of  all  Verse  7 
things  is  at  handJ^  What  kind  of  conduct  will 
it  determine,  and  to  what  kind  of  counsel  will 
it  lead  ?  Here  is  an  apostle,  deeply  possessed 
by  the  solemn  conviction  that  the  great  Con- 
summation is  approaching,  that  the  glorified 
Christ  is  returning,  that  the  judgment  is  im- 
pending, and  that  the  "  end  of  all  things  is  at 
hand."     In  the  looming  presence  of  so  urgent 

161  11 


162  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

and  so  commanding  an  event,  how  will  the 
apostle  shape  his  message  ?  What  kind  of 
counsel  will  he  give  to  his  readers  ?  What 
manner  of  preparation  will  he  constrain  them 
to  make  ?  It  matters  little  or  nothing  to 
my  pur^^ose  that  the  apostle's  anticipations 
of  the  second  advent  were  premature,  and 
that  the  stupendous  consummation  was  de- 
layed. For  you  and  for  me  the  instructive  and 
all-absorbing  conjunction  remains  the  same. 
Here  is  the  Apostle  Peter  sharing  with  his 
fellow-Christians  the  expectation  of  an  im- 
mediate end.  The  Judge  is  at  the  door !  What 
will  be  the  manner  of  their  behaviour  ?  If 
we  knew  that  within  a  year  or  two  the  Master 
will  reappear  as  the  august  and  sovereign 
Judge,  how  ought  we  to  pass  the  intervening 
days  ?  We  know,  from  the  letters  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  how  the  urgent  expectancy  in- 
fluenced many  of  the  early  Christians.  Some 
were  thrown  into  panic.  Others  were  despoiled 
of  their  spiritual  collectedness  by  the  invasion 
of  unreasonable  excitement.  Others  abandoned 
their  ordinary  employment,  and  lapsed  into 
an  indolence  in  which  they  might  find  more 
leisure  to  wait  and  watch  for  the  King's  ap- 
pearing. And  we  know  with  what  severity  the 
apostle  denounced  these  perilous  and  irrational 
excesses.     "  Study  to  be  quiet  ai^d  to  do  your 


CHAPTER  IV.  7-11  163 

own  business."  "  Be  not  shaken  in  mind." 
"  We  command  that  with,  quietness  ye  work 
and  eat  your  own  bread."  "  Let  us  watch  and 
be  sober."  All  this  dangerous  sensationalism 
was  combatted  and  subdued  by  the  cool  self- 
possession  of  this  man's  healthy  and  imperial 
mind. 

And  now  here  is  the  Apostle  Peter  confronted 
by  the  same  prevailing  and  insidious  inclina- 
tions. What  will  be  the  character  of  his 
message  ?  Let  us  make  the  matter  directly 
pertinent  to  our  own  condition  that  we  may 
appreciate  the  strong,  cooling,  controlling  in- 
fluence of  the  apostle's  counsel.  For  us, 
too,  "  the  end "  may  be  at  hand.  Death 
looms  on  the  not-distant  horizon.  The  King 
is  at  the  gate  !  What  shall  be  the  nature  of 
our  preparations,  and  the  character  of  our 
behaviour  ?  "  The  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand  : 
be  ye  therefore  of  sound  mmcZ."  Sound  mind !  Verse  7 
Life  is  to  be  characterised  by  reasonableness 
and  sanity.  There  is  to  be  nothing  morbid 
about  our  mental  state,  nothing  melancholy 
or  diseased.  We  are  to  be  mentally  ^'  sound," 
emancipated  from  distraction  and  panic.  We 
may  enter  into  the  content  of  the  descriptive 
word  by  watching  its  usage  in  our  common 
speech.  We  are  familiar  with  the  phrase  *'  as 
sound   as   a   bell,"   and   the   usage   will   act  as 


164  THE  FmsT  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

part-interpreter  of  the  apostle's  thought.  "  Soiinu 
as  a  bell !  "  There  is  no  break  in  the  metal, 
no  severance  in  the  elements  ;  it  holds  together 
in  compact  and  undivided  unity.  "  Sound 
mind "  ;  as  sound  as  a  bell ;  no  break  in  the 
mind,  no  division,  no  distraction,  but  a  wonder- 
ful collectedness,  issuing  in  the  definite  tone 
of  clear  and  decisive  purpose.  We  are  also 
familiar  with  another  application  of  the  word, 
as  in  the  us^ge,  "  sound"  and  "unsound"  meat, 
where  the  significance  is  indicative  of  health 
and  disease.  And  this,  too,  may  guide  us  into 
the  content  of  the  apostle's  thought,  for  when 
he  counsels  "  sound-mindedness  "  he  unquestion- 
ably refers  to  a  mental  condition  which  is  freed 
from  all  morbidity,  defilement,  taint,  and 
disease.  "  The  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand : 
be  ye  therefore  of  sound  mind,"  delivered  on 
the  one  hand  from  the  mental  distraction  that 
destroys  life's  music,  and  on  the  other  hand 
from  the  morbid  depression  which  so  frequently 
opens  the  gate  for  the  invasion  of  death. 
Verse  7  ^'  ^nd  be  soberj^  That  is  the  second  note  of 
the  apostle's  counsel.  ''  And  be  sober."  It  is 
a  warning  against  all  kinds  of  intoxication, 
but  especially  against  the  intoxication  of  ex- 
cited and  tumultuous  emotion.  There  are  stimu- 
lants other  than  those  of  intoxicating  drinks; 
and  there  is  a  sensationalism  to  be  found  else- 


CHAPTER  IV.  7-li  165 

where  than  in  carnal  gratification.  Excessive 
stimulants  may  be  found  in  the  revival  meeting, 
and  men  may  revel  in  intoxicated  emotionalism 
even  in  the  sanctuary.  Men  may  "lose  their 
heads  "  in  many  more  ways  than  by  the  excessive 
imbibing  of  strong  drink.  "  Be  sober."  Don't 
give  way  to  any  excitement  which  will  make  life 
grotesque  and  foolish !  Beware  of  the  sensa- 
tionalism which  is  often  the  minister  of  sin. 
"Be  sober."  It  is  an  appeal  for  the  culture  and 
discipline  of  emotion.  "  Be  sober  unto  prayer  "  ;  Verse  7 
preserve  that  calmness  of  life  which  is  consistent 
with  steady  aspiration  and  fruitful  supplication ; 
maintain  a  quiet  "watching  unto  prayer." 
Here,  then,  are  two  of  the  features  which 
characterised  a  life  possessed  by  a  healthy 
expectancy  of  the  Lord's  appearing :  sound- 
mindediiess  and  sobriety.  "We  are  to  wait  the 
coming  of  the  King  with  mind  and  heart 
delivered  from  the  distractions  of  panic,  from 
the  taint  of  corruption,  and  from  a  feverish 
sensationalism  which  is  destructive  of  the  higher 
ministries  of  fellowship  and  prayer. 

And  now  the  apostle  proceeds  to  add  a  third 
element  to  those  already  mentioned.     "  Above  all  Verse  8 
things  being  fervent    in  your  love  among  your- 
selves.''  To  "  sound-mindedness  "  and  "  sobriety  '* 
he    adds    the   ministry  of    "love."      Now  the 


1G6  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

apostle  is  at  some  pains  to  make  it  clear  to  us 
what  is  the  quality  of  this  love  which  should 
characterise  the  life  which  expects  the  King's 
appearing.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  to  be 
"  fervent."  Now  the  significance  of  our  English 
word  "fervour"  scarcely  unveils  to  us  the 
contents  of  the  apostle's  mind.  He  did  not  so 
much  suggest  a  love  that  is  ardent  as  a  love 
that  is  tense.  This  very  word  "  tense  "  is  almost 
the  original  ,word.  The  love  has  to  be  "  tense," 
stretched  out,  extended  to  the  utmost  limit  of  a 
grand  comprehensiveness.  The  New  Testament 
recognises  different  types  and  qualities  of  love, 
and  there  is  no  counsel  in  which  it  is  more 
abounding  than  just  in  this  counsel  to  push 
back  the  boundaries  of  a  circumscribed  affection 
so  that  it  be  characterised  by  a  more  spacious 
inclusiveness.  There  is  love  whose  measure  is 
that  of  an  umbrella.  There  is  love  whose  in- 
clusiveness is  that  of  a  great  marquee.  And 
there  is  love  whose  comprehension  is  that  of 
the  immeasurable  sky.  The  aim  of  the  New 
Testament  is  the  conversion  of  the  umbrella 
into  a  tent,  and  the  merging  of  the  tent  into  the 
glorious  canopy  of  the  all-enfolding  heavens. 
Therefore  does  the  writer  of  this  very  letter,  in 
a  second  letter  which  he  has  written,  give  this 
very  suggestive  counsel,  "  add  to  brotherly  love, 
love."     "Which  just  means  this  :  make  your  love 


CHAPTER  IV.   7-11  167 

more  tense ;  push  back  the  walls  of  family  love 
until  they  include  the  neighbour ;  again  push 
back  the  walls  until  they  include  the  stranger ; 
again  push  back  the  walls  until  they  comprehend 
the  foe.  The  quality  of  our  love  is  determined 
by  its  inclusiveness.  At  the  one  extreme  there 
is  self-love ;  at  the  other  extreme  there  is  philan- 
thropy !  What  is  the  "  tense,"  the  stretch  of 
my  love  ?  What  is  its  covering  power  ?  I  do 
not  wonder  that  the  apostle  proceeds  to  indicate 
the  magnificent  "  cover  "  afforded  by  a  magnifi- 
cent love.  "  Love  covereih  a  multitude  of  sins^  verse  8 
Not  the  sins  of  the  lover,  but  the  sins  of  the 
loved !  Love  is  willing  to  forget  as  well  as  to 
forgive!  Love  does  not  keep  hinting  at  past 
failures  and  past  revolts.  Love  is  willing  to 
hide  them  in  a  nameless  grave.  When  a  man, 
whose  life  has  been  stained  and  blackened  by 
"  a  multitude  of  sins,"  turns  over  a  new  leaf, 
love  will  never  hint  at  the  old  leaf,  but  will 
rather  seek  to  cover  it  in  deep  and  healing 
oblivion.  Love  is  so  busy  unveiling  the  promises 
and  allurements  of  the  morrow,  that  she  has 
little  time,  and  still  less  desire  to  stir  up 
the  choking  dust  on  the  blasted  and  desolate 
fields  of  yesterday.  '^  Then  drew  near  unto  Him 
all  the  publicans  and  sinners."  There's  a 
''cover"  for  you!  "And  behold,  a  woman  in 
the  city,  which  was  a  sinner,  when  she  knew  .  .  , 


168   THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

stood  at  His  feet  behind  Him  weeping  ! "  There's 
a  cover  for  you!  "The  Son  of  Man  is  come  to 
seek  that  which  is  lost."  There's  a  cover  for 
you !  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  great  evangelical 
prophet  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  heralding  the 
advent  of  the  Saviour,  should  proclaim  Him  as 
"  a  hiding-place  from  the  wind,  a  covert  from  the 
tempest,  as  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place,  and 
as  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land." 
"  Love  covereth  all  things." 

But  we  have  not  yet  done  with  the  apostle's 
characterisation  of  the  qualities  of  love.  He 
adds  a  third  word  which  confirms  and  enriches 
the  other  two.  True  love,  "  stretched-out " 
Verse  9  love,  all-sheltering  love,  "  uses  hospitality  without 
mur muring. ^^  True  love  is  a  splendid  host,  a 
veritable  Gains  in  the  lavish  entertainment 
which  it  offers  to  weary  and  footsore  pilgrims. 
In  the  primitive  Christian  day,  the  apostolic 
days,  love  opened  the  door  and  gave  hospitality 
to  the  itinerant  preachers  as  they  went  from 
place  to  place  proclaiming  the  message  of  the 
Cross.  Love  opened  the  door  to  the  persecuted 
refugees,  driven  from  their  homesteads  because 
of  their  devotion  to  the  Lord.  There  were  many 
of  them  about,  and  the  love-children  were  to 
keep  an  open  door  and  a  sharp  look-out,  and 
offer  the  welcome  entertainment.  Love  is  the 
very  genius  of  hospitality ;  it  opens  the  "hospice" 


CHAPTER  IV.   7-11  169 

in  the  stormy  and  perilous  heights,  and  provides 
a  travellers'  rest.  Wherever  love  is,  the  hospice 
may  be  found  !  "  Love  never  faileth."  And 
the  gracious  ministry  is  all  discharged  so 
graciously  ;  "  without  murmuring  !  "  There  is 
no  frown  upon  the  face,  no  sense  of  "  put-out- 
ness "  in  the  attention.  It  is  all  done,  as 
Matthew  Henry  says,  "in  a  kind,  easy,  hand- 
some manner,"  as  though  the  host  had  been 
almost  impatiently  waiting  for  the  privilege, 
and  yearning  for  its  speedy  approach. 

Now,  brethren,  the  King  is  at  the  gate ! 
Soon  His  hand  will  be  upon  the  latch !  How 
shall  we  prepare  for  Him  ?  In  sound-mindedness, 
in  spiritual  sobriety,  and  in  a  love  which  is  ever 
straining  after  more  and  more  spacious  breadth 
of  gracious  and  generous  hospitality.  How 
shall  these  dispositions  express  themselves  ? 
AVhat  shall  be  the  medium  of  affection  ?  What 
shall  be  the  line  of  our  ministry  ?  The  apostle 
provides  the  answer :  "  According  as  each  hath  Verse  10 
received  a  gi/V^  We  must  work  through  what 
we  have  received.  "  What  hast  thou  that  thou 
hast  not  received  ?  "  Our  members,  our  senses, 
our  mental  aptitudes,  our  spiritual  endowments  ! 
They  are  all  the  gifts  of  the  King !  We  must 
use  them  all  in  the  ministry  of  love.  But 
beyond  all  these  there  is  the  mysterious  and 
indescribable  gift  of  our  own  individuality.    Wq 


170  THE  FIRST   EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

are  each,  as  unique  in  personality  as  we  are  each 
distinctive  in  face.  Individuality  is  a  unique 
gift,  and  is  divinely  purposed  for  unique  service. 
We  must  reverently  consecrate  our  individuality 
to  the  King's  use,  that  it  may  become  the 
Verses  minister  of  His  own  *'  manifold  grace "  and 
10, 11  u  strength^  In  this  subordination  the  individu- 
ality is  preserved  intact  and  unimpaired.  Work- 
ing through  us,  the  Holy  Ghost  will,  shall  I  say, 
impinge  upon  the  world  in  a  somewhat  different 
form  than  from  the  life  of  any  of  our  fellows. 
If  an  electric  current  be  led  through  a  series  of 
several  different  materials,  its  appearance  in  the 
outer  world  will  vary  with  each  wire.  "  In  a 
platinum  wire  it  may  appear  as  light,  in  an  iron 
one  as  heat,  round  a  bar  of  soft  iron  as  magnetic 
energy,  led  into  a  solution  as  a  power  that 
decomposes  and  recombines."  So  in  many 
individualities  are  there  "  diversities  of  opera- 
tions, but  the  one  Spirit."  What  we  have  to 
do  is  to  take  our  individuality,  "  according  as 
each  hath  received  the  gift,"  and  so  reverently 
consecrate  it  that  "  the  manifold  grace "  may 
work  a  unique  ministry,  and  by  "the  strength 
which  God  supplieth  "  we  may  manifest  a  daily 
salvation  which  shall  be  to  the  glory  of  God. 

Here  then,  I  conclude.  I  think  that  no  one 
can  be  made  to  stumble  by  any  narrowness  and 
irrelevancy  in  the  apostle's  counsel.    His  com- 


CHAPTER  IV.  7-11  171 

mandment  is  exceeding  broad.     How  shall  we 
prepare  for  the    coming    of   the   King?     What 
can  be   more   reasonable   than   the   response   I 
have  attempted  to  expound  ?     In  soimd-minded- 
ness,  in  spiritual  sobriety,  in  an  affection  which 
is  ever  seeking  greater  inclusiveness,  and  work- 
ing through   the   distinctive   gifts    of   the    con- 
secrated individual  life.     I  tell  you,  if  this  be 
my   condition,  I   shall   not   be    afraid   "at    His 
coming."     He  may  come  in  a  moment,  and  very 
suddenly,  in  the  noontide,  or  the  midnight,  or 
at  the  cock-crow ;  come  when  He  may,  I  shall 
"love  His   appearing."     Living  calmly,  in  the 
atmosphere    of    affection,    and    in    the    mystic 
strength  of  consecration,  I  shall  know  Him  as 
my  friend.     The  present  Bishop  of  Durham  has 
told  us  of  a  beloved  friend  of  his  who  narrated  to 
him  a  strangely  vivid  dream  which  he  had  long, 
long  years  ago.     Let  me  tell  it  in  the  Bishop's 
words.      "Through    the    bed-chamber    window 
seemed  to  shine  on  a  sudden  an  indescribable 
light ;  the  dreamer  seemed  to  run,  to  look  ;  and 
there,  in  the  depths  above,  were  beheld  three 
forms.     One  was  unknown,  one  the  Archangel, 
One  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     And  at  this  most 
sudden  sight  that   soul,   the    soul   of   one    over 
whom,     to     my     knowledge,     the     unutterable 
solemnities  of   the   unseen   are   wont   to   brood 
with  almost  painful  power,  was  instantaneously 


172     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

thrilled  with  a  rapturous  joy  .  .  .  unspeak- 
able and  full  of  glory:  *  My  Saviour,  0  my 
Saviour ! ' " 

I  pray  that  when  that  light  breaks  upon  us, 
not  in  the  ministry  of  a  dream,  but  in  the 
veritable  coming  of  the  Lord ;  when  for  you 
and  for  me  "  the  end  of  all  things  is  at 
hand,"  may  we  have  so  brooded  on  "  the 
solemnities,"  and  so  laboured  in  the  gracious 
ministry  of  affection,  that  we  too,  "  when  He 
Cometh,"  shall  be  "instantaneously  thrilled  with 
raptuous  joy,  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory : 
*  My  Saviour,  0  my  Saviour ! '  " 


THE  FIEEY  TRIAL 

1  Peter  iv.  12-19 

Beloved,  think  it  not  strange  concerning  the  fiery  trial 
among  you^  which  coraeth  upon  you  to  prove  youy  as  though 
a  strange  thing  happened  unto  you  :  hut  insomuch  as  ye  are 
partakers  of  Christ's  sufferings,  rejoice  ;  that  at  the  revela- 
tion of  His  glory  also  ye  may  rejoice  with  exceeding  joy. 
If  ye  are  reproached  for  the  name  of  Christ,  blessed  are  ye; 
because  the  Sjnrit  of  glory  and  the  Spirit  of  God  resteth 
upon  you.  For  let  none  of  you  suffer  as  a  murderer,  or  a 
thief  or  an  evil-doer,  or  as  a  meddler  in  other  men's  matters  : 
hut  if  a  man  suffer  as  a  Christian,  let  him  not  he  ashamed  ; 
hut  let  him  glorify  God  in  this  Qiame.  For  the  time  is  come 
for  judgement  to  begin  at  the  house  of  God :  and  if  it  begin 
first  at  us,  what  shall  be  the  end  of  them  that  obey  not  the 
gospel  of  God  ?  And  if  the  righteous  is  scarcely  savedy 
where  shall  the  ungodly  and  sinner  appear?  Wherefore 
let  them  also  that  suffer  according  to  the  will  of  God  commit 
their  souls  in  well-doing  unto  a  faithful  Creator. 

"  The  fiery  trial  among  you,  which  cometh  upon  Verse  12 
you  to  prove  you.^^  But  is  it  not  one  of  the 
perquisites  of  sainthood  to  be  delivered  from 
suffering?  One  would  have  anticipated  that 
part  of  the  inheritance  of  grace  would  be 
freedom  from  the  fiery  trial.  The  flames 
would  never  reach  us.  The  enemy  would 
be  stayed,  and  we  should  sit  down  in  happy 
173 


174   THE  FIRST   EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

quietness  at  the  King's  feast !  But  this  is  not 
the  programme  of  Christianity.  Christianity  is 
almost  alarmingly  daring  in  the  \obtrusive 
emphasis  which  it  gives  to  the  darl^i  elements 
in  its  programme.  There  is  no  atter^ipt  to  hide 
or  obscure  them.  No  effort  is  made  to  engage 
our  attention  to  the  ''green  pastures  "  and  "  still 
waters,"  and  to  distract  us  from  the  affrighting 
valley  of  shadow  and  gloom.  "  Whom  the  Lord 
loveth  He  chasteneth."  "  In  the  world  ye  shall 
have  tribulation."  "  Perfected  through  suffer- 
ings." ''  Let  him  take  up  his  cross  daily  and 
follow  me."  ''The  fiery  trial  which  is  to  try 
you."  These  are  not  words  which  are  addressed 
to  "  murderers  "  or  "  thieves,"  or  "  evil-doers," 
or  "  busybodies "  ;  they  are  quietly  spoken  to 
the  saints,  to  men  and  women  whose  lives  are 
pledged  to  virtue,  and  who  are  aspiring  after 
the  holiness  of  the  perfected  life  in  Christ. 

Then  let  us  just  note  this :  our  sufferings  do 
not  prove  our  religion  counterfeit.  Our  many 
temptations  do  not  throw  suspicion  on  our 
sonship.  Our  trials  are  not  the  marks  of  our 
alienation.  Do  not  let  us  think  that  we  are 
strangers  because  our  robes  are  sometimes 
stained  with  our  blood.  "  Think  it  not  strange," 
says  this  much-schooled  apostle,  "  Think  it  not 
strange  ! "  Don't  think  you  have  never  been 
naturalised  —  super-naturalised  —  that  you    are 


CHAPTER  IV.   12-19  175 

still  a  foreigner,  an  outcast  from  the  home  of 
redemptive  grace  !  These  are  the  happenings 
of  the  home-country  !  They  are  not  the  marks 
of  foreign  rule.  They  are  the  signs  of  paternal 
government.  You  are  in  your  Father's  house  ! 
God  will  convert  the  apparent  antagonism  into 
a  minister  of  heavenly  grace.  The  oppressive 
harrow,  as  well  as  the  genial  sunshine,  is  part 
of  the  equipment  needed  for  the  maturing  and 
perfecting  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 

What,  then,  is  the  purpose  of  ''  the  fiery 
trial  "  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of  this  permitted 
ministry  of  suffering  ?  Well,  in  the  first  place, 
it  tests  character.  It  discharges  the  purpose  of 
an  examination.  An  examination,  rightly  re- 
garded, is  a  vital  part  of  our  schooling.  It  is 
a  minister  of  revelation.  It  unfolds  our  strengths 
and  our  weaknesses.  And  so  it  is  in  the  larger 
examination  afforded  by  the  discipline  of  life. 
Our  crises  are  productive  of  self-disclosures. 
They  reveal  us  to  ourselves,  and  I  think  the 
revelations  are  usually  creative  of  grateful 
surprise.  In  the  midst  of  the  fiery  trial  we  are 
filled  with  amazement  at  the  fulness  and  strength 
of  our  resources.  When  the  trial  is  looming  we 
shrink  from  it  in  fear.  "  We  say  one  to  another, 
"  I  don't  know  how  I  shall  bear  it !  "  And  then 
the  crisis  comes,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  fire 
we  are  calm  and  strong  ;  and  when  it  is  past, 


176     THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

how  frequently  we  are  heard  to  say,  "  I  never 
thought  I  could  have  gone  through  it !  "  And 
so  "  probation  worketh  hope " ;  the  heavy 
discipline  is  creative  of  assurance  ;  the  terror 
becomes  the  nutriment  of  our  confidence. 

But  the  fiery  trial  not  only  tests  by  revealing 
character,  it  also  strengthens  and  confirms  it. 
Hard  trial  makes  hard  and  much-enduring 
muscle.  The  water  that  is  too  soft  makes  flabby 
limbs ;  it  is  not  creative  of  bone.  And  circum- 
stances which  are  too  soft  make  no  bone :  they 
are  productive  of  character  without  backbone. 
Luxuriousness  is  rarely  the  cradle  of  giants.  It 
is  not  unsuggestive  that  the  soft  and  bountiful 
tropics  are  not  the  home  of  the  strong,  indomi- 
table, and  progressive  peoples.  The  pioneering 
and  progressive  races  have  dwelt  in  sterner  and 
harder  climes.  The  lap  of  luxury  does  not 
afford  the  elementary  iron  for  the  upbringing 
of  strong  and  enduring  life.  Hardness  hardens ; 
antagonism  solidifies  ;  trials  innure  and  confirm. 
How  commonly  it  has  happened  that  men  who, 
in  soft  circumstances,  have  been  weak  and 
irresolute,  were  hardened  into  fruitful  decision  by 
the  ministry  of  antagonism  and  pain.  "  Thou 
art  Simon  " — a  hearer,  a  man  of  loose  hearsays 
and  happenings  ;  "  Thou  shalt  be  called  Peter  " 
— a  rock,  a  man  of  hard,  compact,  and  resolute 
convictions.      But   ''Simon"   became   "Peter" 


CHAPTER  IV.   12-19  177 

through,  the  ministry  of  the  fiery  trial.  The 
man  of  ''  soft  clothing  "  is  in  the  luxury  of  kings' 
houses  ;  the  hard  man  with  the  camels'  hair  and 
the  leathern  girdle  is  away  out  in  the  hardships 
of  the  desert.  "  We  must  through  much  tribu- 
lation enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God." 

But  the  fiery  trial  not  only  reveals  and 
hardens  the  character,  it  also  develops  it  by 
bringing  out  its  hidden  beauties.  I  am  using 
the  word  develop  as  the  photographer  uses  it. 
You  know  how  he  brings  out  the  lines  of  his 
pictures.  The  picture  is  laid  in  the  vessel,  and 
the  liquid  is  moved  and  moved  across  it;  it 
passes  over  the  face  of  the  picture,  and  little  by 
little  the  hidden  graces  are  disclosed.  "  All  Thy 
billows  are  gone  over  me."  That  is  the  Lord's 
developer;  it  brings  out  the  soft  lines  in  the 
character.  Under  its  ministry  we  pass  "  from 
strength  to  strength,  "from  grace  to  grace," 
"from  glory  to  glory." 

And  so  the  fiery  trial  tests  and  confirms  and 
develops  the  character.  I  do  not  wonder  that 
with  conceptions  such  as  these,  and  with  such 
outlooks,  the  apostle  calls  upon  his  Christian 
readers  to  lift  up  their  heads,  to  walk  not  as 
children  of  shame,  but  as  children  of  rejoicing. 
And  look  at  the  motives  he  adduces  to  create 
the  spirit  of  rejoicing.  "Look  at  your  com- 
panionship," he   seems   to   say.      "  Ye  are  jpar-  Verse  13 


178  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

takers  of  Christ's  sufferings. ^^  In  the  furnace  with 
you  is  ''  one  like  unto  the  Son  of  Man."  We 
have  scarcely  touched  the  fringe  of  life  if  we 
have  not  discovered  what  that  conviction  means 
to  men.  "  Yet  I  do  persuade  myself,"  says 
Samuel  Rutherford  to  one  of  his  correspondents, 
"  ye  know  that  the  weightiest  end  of  the  cross 
of  Christ  that  is  laid  upon  you  lieth  upon  your 
strong  Saviour;  for  Isaiah  saith,  'In  all  your 
afflictions  he  is  afflicted.'  0  blessed  Second, 
who  suffereth  with  you !  And  glad  may  your 
soul  be  even  to  walk  in  the  fiery  furnace  with 
one  like  unto  the  Son  of  Man,  who  is  also  the 
Son  of  G  od.  Courage  !  Up  with  your  heart ! 
"When  ye  do  tire  He  will  bear  both  you  and 
your  burden."  And  writing  to  Lady  Forrest  the 
same  saintly  writer  gives  this  comfort :  "  I  hear 
that  Christ  hath  been  so  kind  as  to  visit  you 
with  sickness.  He  would  have  more  service  of 
you.  He  is  your  loving  husband,  and  would 
draw  you  into  the  bonds  of  a  sweeter  love." 
Look  at  your  companionship!  "Rejoice,"  in- 
asmuch as  the  Lord  is  with  you  in  unceasing 
fellowship. 

And  look  at  the  character  of  the  Operator. 

Verse  14  "  The  Spirit  of  glory  resteth  upon  you^    In  the  fiery 

trial  the  Operator  is  the  Glory-spirit,  the  Maker 

of  glory.     As  though  He  were   controlling  the 

'   hardships  and  trials  and  converting  them  into 


CHAPTER  IV.   12-19  179 

ministers  of  beauty  and  grace.  The  immeasur- 
able waters  of  Niagara  generate  electrical  power 
which  a  man  may  use  to  engrave  a  name  upon 
a  jewel ;  and  the  Spirit  of  Glory  can  so  employ 
these  waters  of  sorrow  as  to  write  our  Father's 
name  upon  our  foreheads.  In  some  hands  the  • 
trial  would  be  an  agent  of  indiscriminate  de- 
struction. In  some  hands  the  implements  in  a 
surgery  would  be  implements  of  mutilation  and 
murder;  in  the  hands  of  a  wise  and  confident 
surgeon  they  are  the  ministers  of  sanity  and 
health.  "  The  Spirit  of  Glory  resteth  upon  you," 
and  He  has  control  of  the  implements !  He  sits 
by  the  fire.  Look  at  the  character  of  the 
Operator,  and  you  will  be  filled  with  rejoicing. 

And  look  at  the  splendid  issues  of  it  all.  ^^  At  Verse  13 
the  revelation  of  His  glory  ye  may  rejoice  with 
exceeding  joy^  "Why  this  jubilant  rejoicing? 
Because  this  shall  be  the  ultimate  issue  :  when 
the  Lord  is  revealed  in  His  glory  it  will  be 
disclosed  that  we  are  sharers  of  the  glory.  The 
Spirit  of  Glory,  which  has  rested  upon  us,  will 
have  wrought  upon  us,  and  brought  us  into  the 
Master's  likeness.  We  "shall  be  manifested 
with  Him  in  glory." 

Well,  now,  if  this  be  the  ministry  of  trial, 
surely  the  fiery  trial  is  a  solemn  necessity. 
Luxurious  ease  would  destroy  us.  If  the  winds 
remained   asleep  we   should   remain  weak   and 


180  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

enervated.  Life  would  drowse  along  in  effemi- 
nate dreams.  The  glory  of  tlie  perfected  Life 
would  never  be  ours.  And  so  life  must  have  its 
crises.  Judgments  are  necessities.  Judgment 
must  "  begin  at  the  House  of  God."  Even  the 
consecrated  folk  need  the  testing,  the  strengthen- 
ing, the  confirming  discipline  of  suffering  and 
pain.  Even  Paul  must  be  thrown  into  the  fiery 
furnace !  Even  John  must  feel  the  bite  of  the 
stinging  flame !  And  if  that  be  so  with  Paul 
and  Peter  and  John,  how  much  more  for  you 
and  me !  "  If  the  righteous  scarcely  be  saved, 
where  shall  the  ungodly  and  sinner  appear  ?  " 
What  a  work  is  our  salvation !  These  wills, 
these  desires,  these  yearnings,  these  bodies ! 
What  work  God  has  with  us,  to  lift  us  into  His 
own  glory ! 


TENDING  THE  FLOCK 

1  Peter  v.  1-7 

The  elders  therefore  among  you  I  exhort,  who  am  a  fellow- 
elder,  and  a  witness  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  who  am  also 
a  partaker  of  the  glory  that  shall  he  revealed :  Shejyherd  the 
flock  of  God  which  is  among  you,  exercising  the  oversight, 
not  of  constraint,  but  willingly,  according  unto  God;  nor 
yet  for  filthy  lucre,  but  of  a  ready  mind;  neither  as  lording 
it  over  the  charge  allotted  to  you,  but  making  yourselves 
ensamples  to  the  flock.  And  tvhen  the  chief  Shepherd  shall 
he  manifested,  ye  shall  receive  the  crown  of  glory  thatfadeth 
not  away.  Likewise,  ye  younger,  be  subject  unto  the  elder. 
Yea,  all  of  you  gird  yourselves  with  humility,  to  serve  one 
another :  f<yr  God  resisteth  the  proud,  hut  giveth  grace  to 
the  humble.  Humble  yourselves  therefore  under  the  mighty 
hand  of  God,  that  He  may  exalt  you  in  due  time;  casting  all 
your  anxiety  upon  Him,  because  He  carethfor  you. 

*'  /  exhortJ^  Let  me  fix  your  eyes  upon  the  Verse  1 
counsellor.  There  is  an  evangel  in  the  speaker, 
altogether  apart  from  the  inspiration  of  his 
message.  "We  are  contemplating  Simon  Peter 
in  the  ripe,  assured  strength  of  his  evening- 
time.  "I  exhort."  Shall  we  pause  a  moment 
that  we  may  invite  the  ministry  of  remini- 
scence? By  what  chequered  way  has  he 
181 


182  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

reached  this  bourn  of  clear  and  quiet  assurance  ? 
Let  me  recall  some  of  the  prominent  landmarks. 
"Follow  Me,  and  I  will  make  you  fishers  of 
men."  .  .  .  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  living  God."  ..."  Even  if  I  must  die  with 
Thee,  yet  will  I  not  deny  Thee."  .  .  .  "Then 
began  he  to  curse  and  swear,  saying,  I  know 
not  the  man."  .  .  .  "Lord,  Thou  knowest  all 
things;  Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee."  .  .  . 
"Now  when  they  saw  the  boldness  of  Peter, 
they  marvelled."  .  .  .  "I,  a  fellow  -  elder,  a 
witness  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  a  partaker 
of  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed."  It  is  a 
wonderful  evolution !  From  the  call  of  the 
spring-time  to  the  ripe,  confident  testimony 
of  the  autumn-time !  And  between  the  two 
extremes  what  a  medley  of  sharp  and  changeful 
experience !  The  rough,  untutored,  impulsive 
character-force  has  been  washed  and  disciplined 
into  discerning  and  fruitful  strength.  And  now 
I  picture  Simon  Peter  as  an  old  saint,  bearing 
the  marks  of  the  stern  fight;  sealed  with  the 
brands  of  the  Lord  Jesus;  his  face  lit  up  with 
the  sober  light  of  chastening  memory  and 
glorious  hope.  "I  am  a  witness  of  the  suffer- 
ings." Think  of  the  content  of  the  phrase 
when  it  falls  from  the  lips  of  Simon  Peter! 
How  much  he  had  seen  which  he  now  recalled 
in  tears !     "  Could  ye  not  watch  with  Me  one 


CHAPTER  V.   1-7  183 

hour  ? "  He  had  seen  that  lonely  and  grief- 
filled  Presence.  ''  And  the  Lord  turned  and 
looked  upon  Peter."  He  had  caught  a  glimpse 
of  that  betrayed  face,  and  the  features  were 
burnt  into  his  soul  in  lines  of  remorseful  fire. 
"I  am  a  witness  of  the  sufferings."  All  the 
black  and  heart-rending  events  of  Gethsemane 
and  Calvary  crowd  the  witnessing,  for  they 
were  never  absent  for  an  hour  from  the 
Apostle's  so  penitent  and  regretful  heart.  But 
Calvary  did  not  eclipse  Olivet.  The  terrors  of 
the  Crucifixion  were  looked  at  in  the  soft  light 
of  the  Resurrection  dawn  and  in  the  startling 
wonders  of  the  Ascension.  And  so  yesterday 
became  linked  with  the  morrow.  Memory  was 
transfigured  into  hope.  The  witness  became  a 
herald.  The  denier  became  the  heir.  "  I  am 
a  witness  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  who  am 
also  a  partaker  of  the  glory  that  shall  be 
revealed." 

And  now  let  us  listen  to  the  scarred  old 
warrior's  counsel.  He  is  giving  fatherly  in- 
struction to  the  officers  of  the  Church.  He 
is  speaking  to  the  elders,  the  overseers,  the 
appointed  leaders  of  these  hallowed  primitive 
assemblies.  I  wish  to  give  the  counsel  the 
widest  application,  that  it  may  include  the 
outermost  circle  of  Christian  service.  If  we 
limited  the  counsel  to  bishops,  then  we  should 


184  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

all  listen  to  the  tremendous  charge  as  critical 
or  unconcerned  spectators.  If  we  included  all 
pastors  and  deacons,  still  the  unconcerned 
majority  might  listen  with  perilous  relish  to 
the  implied  indictment.  The  counsel  applies 
to  every  kind  of  Christian  leadership.  Wher- 
ever man  or  woman  assumes  the  post  of  leader 
of  souls,  guide  to  the  home  of  God — whether 
it  be  among  children  or  adults,  in  visiting  the 
hospitals  or  in  going  from  house  to  house,  in 
the  pastorate  or  in  the  class,  in  the  obscure 
mission  or  in  the  conspicuous  phases  of  cathedral 
labours — the  Apostle's  counsel  is  pertinent,  and 
unfolds  the  primary  dispositions  which  are  the 
secrets  of  prosperous  service. 

Mark,  then,  the  opening  word  of  the  counsel. 
Verse  2 ''  Shepherd  the  flock  of  God  which  is  among 
you."  It  is  a  very  wealthy  and  suggestive 
word  which  forms  the  initial  note  of  the 
Apostle's  instructions.  The  Authorised  Version 
translates  it  "feed,"  the  Revised  Version  trans- 
lates it  "  tend."  Each  element  is  significant  of 
the  shepherd,  and  both  are  essential  to  the  full 
interpretation  of  the  apostle's  mind.  It  is  a 
wonderful  sphere  of  service  which  is  disclosed 
to  me.  I  am  told  that  I  can  be  the  nourisher 
of  my  brother;  I  am  told  that  I  can  also  be 
his  defence.  I  can  "feed"  him;  I  can  stand 
between  him  and  his  hunger.     I  can  tend  him ; 


CHAPTER  V.   1-7  185 

I  can  stand  between  him  and  his  perils.  That  is 
a  beautiful  ministry  which  God  entrusts  to  me. 
I  can  get  in  among  my  brother's  wants  and  take 
him  bread.  I  can  feed  his  faith,  his  hope,  his 
love.  I  can  lead  him  into  "green  pastures  and 
by  still  waters,"  and  discover  to  him  the  means 
of  growth  and  refreshment.  I  can  get  in  among 
my  brother's  perils  and  erect  extra  safeguards 
and  defences.  It  is  possible  to  love  my  way  in 
between  my  brother  and  his  appetites,  between 
his  spirit  and  his  snares.  That  is  our  ministry, 
whatever  be  the  precise  character  of  the 
leadership  we  have  assumed.  It  matters  little 
or  nothing  whether  we  be  called  bishops, 
pastors,  teachers,  visitors;  our  mission  is  to 
feed  and  to  fend,  to  take  nourishing  bread, 
and  to  offer  protective  shelter.  If  a  man 
stand  between  his  brother  and  spiritual  neces- 
sity, or  between  his  brother  and  spiritual  peril, 
he  is  discharging  the  office  of  a  day's-man,  a 
mediator,  a  faithful  under-shepherd,  working 
loyally  under  the  leadership  of  the  "chief 
Bishop  and  Shepherd  of  our  souls." 

How,  then,  is  this  ministry  of  feeder  and 
fender  to  be  successfully  discharged  ?  How  is 
it  to  be  saved  from  offence  and  impertinence  ? 
How  shall  we  gain  admission  to  move  among 
the  needs  and  perils  of  our  brother's  soul? 
How  shaU  we  gain  an  entrance  into  his  secret 


186  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

place  ?  "What  dispositions  are  required  in  order 
to  back  the  ministry  and  make  it  spiritually 
effective  ?  The  apostle  acts  as  our  counsellor, 
and  gives  us  detailed  instruction  in  all  these 
things. 

First  of  all,  it  must  be  the  service  of  willing- 
Verse  2  ness,  "  Not  of  constraint^  hid  ivillingly.^^  One 
volunteer  is  worth  two  pressed  men.  I  am  not 
quite  sure  whether  the  proverbial  saying  is 
pertinent.  I  am  doubtful  if  an  equation  can 
be  established.  On  the  high  planes  of  spiritual 
service  no  number  of  pressed  men  can  take 
the  place  of  a  volunteer.  But  can  men  be 
pressed  into  unfruitful  spiritual  service  ?  Yes, 
men  are  sometimes  constrained  by  what  they 
call  "  the  pressure  of  circumstances."  They  say 
that  they  "  could  not  very  well  get  out  of  it." 
They  had  been  importuned  so  frequently  that 
for  very  shame  they  could  decline  no  longer. 
If  they  could  have  found  another  excuse, 
another  excuse  would  have  been  offered.  But 
their  inventiveness  failed  them.  Their  excuse- 
chamber  was  empty.  They  simply  had  to  do 
it!  Their  wills  had  no  part  in  the  hallowed 
service.  They  were  just  pressed  into  the 
ministry  by  circumstantial  constraint  which 
they  could  no  longer  comfortably  resist.  What 
shall  we  say  about  it  ?  Just  this — that  people 
whose  wills  are  not  in  the  service,  are  really 


CHAPTER  V.   1-7  187 

not  in  the  service  at  all.  Where  there  is  no 
spontaneity  the  fervour  is  fictional,  and  we 
shall  never  thaw  the  wintry  bondage  of  men 
by  painted  and  theatrical  fires. 

But  there  is  a  loftier  constraint  than  the 
pressure  of  importunity  and  the  failure  of  the 
supply  of  excuse.  There  is  the  constraint  of 
conscience,  which  sends  men  into  service 
impelled  by  the  sense  of  duty.  But  even  the 
conscience-labourer  may  toil  and  toil  away  in 
a  fruitless  task.  Men  may  do  their  duty 
unwillingly,  and  the  absence  of  the  will  deprives 
their  service  of  the  very  atmosphere  which 
would  render  it  efficient.  Duty,  without  the 
inclination  of  the  will,  is  cold  and  freezing, 
and  never  makes  a  warm  and  genial  way  into 
the  hidden  precincts  of  another's  soul.  If  I 
were  stretched  in  pain  and  sickness  I  would 
not  care  to  be  nursed  by  duty.  All  the  atten- 
tions might  be  regular  and  methodical,  and  yet  I 
should  mourn  the  absence  of  the  something  which 
makes  the  ministry  winsome  and  alive.  "  I  just 
love  to  have  her  near  my  bed,"  said  a  hospital 
patient  to  me  the  other  day,  speaking  of  her 
Christly  and  consecrated  nurse.  That  is  duty 
with  an  atmosphere.  It  is  duty  transfigured. 
Duty  may  make  people  righteous ;  alone  it  will 
not  make  them  good.  "And  scarcely  for  a 
righteous  man,  will  one  die ;  yet  peradventuro 


188  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

for  a  good  man  some  would  even  dare  to  die." 
I  do  not  think  that  duty  will  carry  us  far  into 
the  deep  hungers  and  weaknesses  of  our 
fellow-men.  We  need  the  "  plus,"  the  gracious 
inclination  of  the  will,  the  leaning  of  the 
entire  being  in  the  line  of  service.  We  need 
to  be  swayed,  not  by  the  compulsion  of  external 
pressure,  not  even  by  the  lonely  sovereignty 
of  the  moral  sense,  but  by  an  inward  constraint, 
"warm,  sweet,  tender,"  the  unfailing  impulse 
of  grace,  abiding  in  us  as  '*  a  well,  springing 
up  into  eternal  life."  "Not  of  constraint,  but 
willingly." 

Secondly,  our  service  must  be  the  service  of 
Verse  2  affection.  "  Nor  yet  for  filthy  lucre^  hut  of  a  ready 
mind,^^  We  are  not  to  be  moved  in  our  service 
by  any  hunger  for  external  reward,  and  do 
not  let  us  think  that  external  rewards  are 
exhausted  under  the  single  category  of  money. 
Men  may  take  up  Christian  service  to  enrich 
their  purse,  to  enlarge  their  business,  and  in 
many  ways  to  advance  a  transient  interest. 
But  we  may  also  labour  in  the  hunger  for 
recognition  and  applause,  and  I  am  not  sure 
which  of  the  two  occupies  the  lower  sphere, 
he  who  hungers  for  money,  or  he  who  thirsts 
for  applause.  A  preacher  may  dress  and  smooth 
his  message  to  court  the  public  cheers,  and 
labourers  in  other  spheres  may  bid  for  pro" 


CHAPTEE  V.   1-7  189 

minence,  for  imposing  print,  for  grateful 
recognition.  All  this  unfits  us  for  our  task. 
It  destroys  the  fine  sense  of  the  shepherd. 
It  destroys  his  perception  of  the  needs  and 
perils  of  the  sheep.  It  despoils  us  of  our 
bread,  and  robs  us  of  our  staff,  and  we  have 
neither  food  nor  protection  to  offer  to  our 
hungering  and  endangered  fellow-man.  "Not 
for  filthy  lucre,  but  of  a  ready  mind."  Do 
thy  service,  not  for  the  praises  and  rewards 
of  men,  but  as  Martin  Luther  says,  "  from  the 
very  bottom  of  the  heart,  out  of  love  to  the 
thing  itself,  out  of  joyous  devotion  to  the  work 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  gives  thee." 

The  service  of  willingness !  The  service  of 
affection  !  It  must  also  be  the  service  of 
humility!  ''''Neither  as  lording  it  over  the^QTses^-z 
Hock  .  .  .  gird  yourselves  with  humility^  to 
serve  one  another^  That  is  most  subtle  and 
needed  counsel.  Who  would  have  expected 
that  spiritual  pastors  would  be  warned  against 
lordliness  and  pride  ?  Who  would  have  imagined 
that  men  who  are  ministering  the  gospel  of  low- 
liness should  themselves  be  exalted  in  pride  ! 
It  is  one  of  the  most  insidious  temptations  which 
beset  the  working  disciple  of  Christ.  Pride  ever 
lurks  just  at  the  heels  of  power.  Even  a  little 
authority  is  prone  to  turn  the  seemly  walk  into 
a  most  offensive  strut.     But  the  peril  is  subtler 


190  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

still.  "While  I  assume  to  feed  my  brother,  my 
own  soul  may  be  a-hungered.  While  I  am 
helping  his  defence,  the  enemy  may  be  ravaging 
my  own  land.  The  peril  is  subtler  still.  Some- 
how we  come  to  find  a  virtue  in  preaching  and 
teaching,  and  our  preaching  and  teaching  become 
our  doing.  Teachers  and  preachers  are  somehow 
allured  outside  their  own  message— its  evangel 
and  its  warnings — and  we  are  solaced  and 
soothed  by  the  lonely  fact  that  we  have  shared 
in  its  proclamation.  It  is  a  terrible  temptation, 
and  if  we  yield  to  it,  it  swells  the  heart  with 
lordliness  and  pride.  What  is  our  security  ? 
*'A11  of  you  gird  yourselves  with  humility." 
Put  on  the  apron  of  the  slave!  Go  into  the 
awful  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  contemplate 
His  glory  until  the  vision  brings  you  wonder- 
ingly  to  your  knees  !  ''  Go,  stand  on  the  mount 
before  the  Lord."  That  is  the  place  where  we 
discover  our  size  !  No  man  speaks  of  his  great- 
ness who  has  been  closeted  with  God.  Lordliness 
changes  into  holy  fear,  and  pride  bows  down  in 
reverent  supplication.  Oh,  we  must  come  from 
the  Presence-chamber  into  the  pulpit !  Nay,  the 
pulpit  itself  must  be  the  Presence-chamber,  and 
the  man  must  preach  in  the  consciously  realised 
presence  of  the  Almighty  and  Eternal  God. 
The  Lord  will  have  no  proud  men  in  His  service. 
Such  men  are   self-appointed.     "I  never  knew 


CHAPTER  V.   1-7  191 

you."  Their  names  are  not  to  be  fomid  in  the 
Lamb's  Book  of  Life.  "  God  resisteth  the  proud." 
He  stands  in  the  way  and  fights  them  !  "  The 
angel  of  the  Lord  stood  in  the  way  for  an 
adversary."  It  is  an  appalling  thought ;  our 
strongest  antagonist  may  be  the  Lord  whom  we 
are  professing  to  serve.  "  God  resisteth  the 
proud."  Let  us  hasten  to  add  the  complementary 
evangel.  "  And  giveth  grace  to  the  humble." 
It  is  the  humble,  kneeling  soul  that  receives 
ineffable  outpourings  of  Divine  grace.  Grace 
ever  seeks  out  the  lowliest. 

It  streams  from  the  hills, 
It  descends  to  the  plain. 

To  the  humble  soul  God  gives  the  very  dynamics 
of  fruitful  service.  In  all  spiritual  ministry  it 
is  only  grace  that  tells.  Nothing  else  counts  ! 
Other  gifts  may  amuse,  may  interest,  may  allure, 
but  grace  alone  can  engage  in  the  labour  of 
spiritual  redemption.  The  servants  of  the  Lord 
are  to  be  filled  with  grace,  and  their  overflow 
will  constitute  their  influence  upon  their  fellows. 
Out  of  them  shall  flow  "  rivers  of  water  of  life." 
"  God  giveth  grace  to  the  humble." 

Lastly,  it  must  be  the  service  of  trustfulness. 
"  Casting  all  your  anxiety  upon  Him^  because  He  ^^rse  7 
careth   for   youJ^      Take   your   alarms   to   Him. 
Talk  out  your  fears  with  him.     Lay  them  upon 


192  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF   PETER 

Him  in  quiet  assurance.  And  this  must  be  done 
in  the  interests  of  spiritual  economy.  Terrible 
is  the  waste  of  spiritual  energy  which  results 
from  anxiety  and  fear.  To  allow  anxiety  to 
rear  itself  in  the  soul  is  like  permitting  rank 
weeds  to  grow  in  the  flower-bed;  and  the  worthier 
growths,  being  deprived  of  nutriment,  grow 
faint  and  droop  away.  "He  careth  for  you." 
In  these  high  matters  the  Lord  is  doing  the 
thinking. 

Oh,  could  we  but  relinquish  all 
Our  earthly  props,  and  simply  fall 
On  Thine  almighty  arms  ! 

And  what  is  to  be  the  reward  of  such  services  ? 
Verse  4 "  When  the  chief  Shepherd  shall  be  manifested 
.  .  ."  Some  day  we  are  to  see  Him  face  to 
face.  What  then  ?  "  Ye  shall  receive  the 
crown  of  glory. ^^  The  victory  crown  will  be 
composed  of  leaves  and  flowers  which  will  never 
fade  away ;  of  leaves  which  are  the  tokens  of 
abiding  spring ;  of  flowers  which  are  the  tokens 
of  ever-enriching  glory. 


THEOUGH  ANTAGONISMS  TO 
PERFECTNESS 

1  Peter  v.  8-10 

Be  sober,  he  watchful :  your  adversary  the  devil,  as  a 
roaHng  lion,  walheth  about,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour: 
whom' withstand  stedfast  in  the  faith,  knouing  that  the 
same  sufferings  are  accomplished  in  your  brethren  who  are 
in  the  world.  And  the  God  of  all  grace,  who  called  you 
unto  His  eternal  glory  in  Christ,  after  that  ye  have  suffered 
a  little  while,  shall  Himself  perfect,  stablish,  strengthen  you. 

"  The  devil  .  .  .  walketh  about,  seeking  whom  he  Verse  8 
may  devour:'     Peter's  memory  is  here  helping 
Peter's  message.     Reminiscence  is   shaping   his 
counseL     It  does  seem  as  though  at- times  this 
apostle  dips  his  pen  in  his  own  blood.     At  any 
rate,  the  living  crimson  of  his  own  experience 
abundantly   colours  the   page.      The   epistle   is 
hortatory :   it  is  also  biographical.      The  docu- 
ment   is    alive.      It    unfolds    a  faith;    it    also 
records  a  pilgrimage.     In  the  passage  which  is 
immediately  before   us   one  feels   how  the   life 
emerges  as  the  commentary  upon  the  message. 
Let  me  for  a  moment  identify  portions  of  this 
dim  background,  and   set  them  in  relation  to 

193  13 


194  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

the  text.     Here  is  the  foreground,   "God  .  . 
who    called    you."      Here    is    the    background, 
"And   Jesus   said   unto   them,   Come    ye   after 
Me."     Here   is  the  text,  "Be  watchful."     Here 
is  the  context,  "Simon,  Simon,  sleepest  thou? 
Couldst  thou  not  watch  one   hour?"     Here  is 
the  warning,  "Your   adversary,  the   devil  .  .  . 
walketh  about,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour." 
Here  is  the  reminiscence,  "  Simon,  Simon,  Satan 
hath  desired  to  have  thee."     Here  is  the  evangel, 
"The   God   of  all   grace    .    .  .    will  make   you 
perfect."     Here   is   the   experience,   "Thou   art 
Simon  [hearer];  thou  shalt  be  Peter"  [a  rock]. 
I  say  that  this  man's  life-blood  stains  his  speech. 
His  words  are  life,  not  the  expression  of  specu- 
lation, but  the  utterance  of  a  travail,  the  ripe 
judgments  of  a  man  who  has  "  known  and  felt." 
And  now  he  lays  down  his  pen  for  a  moment 
and  surveys  his  chequered  days.     He  notes  the 
innumerable  allurements  which  have  beset  his 
path.     He  recalls  the  gay  fascinations,  the  in- 
centives  to   pride,  the   lure   of  power,  the  be- 
witchment of  personal  ambition.     He  marks  the 
violence    of    vice,   the   tempestuous   charge   of 
passion,   the   terrific   onrush   of  the   blind   and 
brutal  forces    of    persecution.      And   all  these 
confront  the   lonely  wayfarer  as   he  picks  his 
way    towards    God.      Life    abounds    in    moral 
antagonisms.     The  empire  of  devilry  runs  right 


CHAPTER  Y.  8-10  195 

up  to  our  gates.  The  destructive  mouth  is  open 
on  every  side.  The  flesh  lusts  against  the 
spirit.  Life  is  filled  with  moral  menace  !  All 
this  the  apostle  sees  as  he  contemplates  his 
own  pilgrimage,  and  so  he  takes  up  his  pen 
again  and  writes  this  warning  to  his  young, 
inexperienced,  and  somewhat  wilful  readers, 
"Your  adversary  the  devil,  as  a  roaring  lion, 
walketh  about,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour." 
I  think  there  is  something  very  suggestive 
in  the  figures  employed  by  the  Bible  to  describe 
the  approaches  of  the  powers  of  evil  and  night. 
The  devil  has  a  fairly  extensive  wardrobe, 
but  his  common  and  more  familiar  guises  are 
of  three  types — a  serpent,  an  angel  of  light, 
and  a  roaring  lion.  It  is  in  one  or  other  of 
these  three  shapes  that  the  forces  of  sin  most 
frequently  assail  us.  They  come  in  the  guise 
of  the  serpent.  They  beguile  our  senses.  They 
pervert  our  judgment.  They  enchant  our 
imaginations.  We  are  fascinated,  bewitched, 
paralysed  by  the  influence  of  some  illicit  and 
unclean  spell.  The  love  of  money  becomes 
a  fascination.  It  holds  a  man  as  under  a 
wizard's  spell.  Gambling  becomes  a  bewitch- 
ment, a  kind  of  spiritual  bondage,  in  which 
the  poor  soul,  in  mesmerised  inclinations,  is 
slowly  drawn  towards  its  own  destruction.  The 
devil  approaches  as  a   serpent,  and  like   fixed 


196  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

and  stupefied  birds  we  are  in  peril  of  dropping 
into  his  devouring  jaws.  He  comes  also  in  the 
guise  of  an  angel  of  light.  He  poses  as  an 
evangelist.  He  plays  the  role  of  one  whose 
ministry  it  is  to  deepen  our  conception  of  the 
love  and  graciousness  of  God.  He  tells  us  that 
we  do  not  think  highly  enough  of  God.  He 
loves  us  too  much  to  be  pained  by  our  small 
neglects.  In  fact,  we  best  show  our  confidence 
in  God  by  fiisregarding  these  neglects.  Our 
trust  is  altogether  too  elementary  and  straight. 
We  should  cast  ourselves  down  from  a  few 
pinnacles,  and  display  to  all  men  what  a 
wonderful  confidence  we  have  in  the  out- 
stretched everlasting  arms  of  God !  Such  is 
the  devil  as  an  angel  of  light.  Such  is  the  devil 
as  the  preacher  of  the  exceeding  breadth  of 
our  Father's  love.  Such  is  the  devil  intent  on 
easing  the  strain  of  our  religious  life,  relaxing 
its  severities,  and  putting  our  feet  into  the  way 
of  a  more  spacious  providence  and  peace.  He 
would  turn  religion  into  thin  refinements ;  he 
would  convert  a  deep  devotion  into  a  glozing 
plausibility  ;  and  he  would  transform  a  hallowed 
trust  into  light  and  flippant  presumption.  And 
the  devil  also  comes  as  a  roaring  lion.  The 
subtlety  of  the  serpent  is  laid  aside  ;  he  discards 
the  sheen  of  the  angel  of  light ;  he  appears  as 
sheer  brutal  force,  an  antagonist  of  terrific  and 


CHAPTER  V.  8-10  197 

naked  violence,  bearing  down  his  victims  under 
the  heavy  paws  of  relentless  persecution.  When 
the  apostle  wrote  this  letter,  the  lion  was  about ; 
Nero  was  at  work ;  the  Christians  were  being 
hunted  unto  death,  in  the  vain  attempt  at 
stamping  out  their  faith  and  devotion  to  the 
Man  of  Nazareth,  their  Saviour  and  their  Lord. 
He  comes  as  a  serpent,  as  an  angel  of  light,  as 
a  roaring  lion.  He  came  to  the  Master  as  a 
serpent  when  he  offered  Him  worldly  power. 
He  came  as  an  angel  of  light  when  he  sought 
to  deepen  and  enrich  His  trust.  He  came  to 
Him  as  a  roaring  lion  in  the  blows  and  blas- 
phemies of  the  bloodthirsty  multitude.  This 
antagonism  we  have  got  to  meet.  How  can 
we  meet  it  in  the  hope  of  certain  triumph  ? 
Let  us  turn  to  the  apostle's  counsel. 

"  Be  soherP  The  culture  of  sobriety  !  See  to  Verse  8 
it  that  you  are  not  intoxicated,  drugged  into 
any  kind  of  perilous  stupor.  Keep  your  head 
clear.  Be  collected.  "Be  sober."  Now,  the 
apostle  is  writing  to  men  and  women  who  are 
professedly  the  followers  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
I  think  there  are  two  perils  in  the  religious  life, 
both  of  which  have  their  issue  in  moral  stupor. 
"We  can  lose  our  senses  in  excitement,  and  we 
can  lose  them  in  sleep.  There  are  perils  in 
sensationalism,  and  there  are  perils  in  encroach- 
ing  drowsiness.      There    is    the    stupor  which 


198  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

accompanies  exaggeration,  and  there  is  the 
stupor  of  indifference.  There  is  an  excessive 
emotionalism  which  offers  no  barriers  against 
the  incursions  of  the  devih  That  is  the  peril  of 
all  revivals.  Men  may  "  lose  their  heads,"  and 
their  very  excitement  fosters  a  moral  drowsiness 
which  gives  hospitality  to  the  besetting  forces 
of  temptation  and  sin.  It  is  among  the  highly 
emotional  races  that  we  find  the  profoundest 
moral  sleep.  "Be  sober."  If  your  spirit  be 
fervent,  at  all  pains  let  it  be  clear.  "  The  spirits 
of  the  prophets  are  subject  to  the  prophets." 
And  on  the  other  side  there  is  the  moral  stupor 
which  is  the  issue  of  a  growing  indifference, 
frequently  initiated  by  small  neglects.  A  man 
neglects  the  pointing  of  his  house  ;  damp  enters  ; 
chills  are  born ;  disease  is  invited ;  death  reigns. 
Relaxation  in  trifles  is  often  the  beginning  of 
moral  benumbment.  Or  it  may  be  that  a 
Christian  man  begins  to  take  his  pleasures  in 
injurious  measure.  He  used  to  sojourn  in  them ; 
now  he  lives  in  them.  "He  that  liveth  in 
pleasure  is  dead."  The  helpful  potion  has 
become  an  illicit  drug.  Taken  in  homoeopathic 
doses  the  pleasure  was  a  tonic  and  restorative  ; 
taken  in  larger  measure  it  became  an  opiate, 
and  sank  the  life  in  perilous  sleep.  Whether 
our  stupor  be  occasioned  by  excitement,  or 
by  neglect,    or  by   dram-drinking,   whether  of 


CHAPTER  V.   8-10  199 

alcoholic  liquor  or  of  drugging  deliglits,  such 
stupor  gives  the  devil  his  opportunity,  and 
offers  him  an  open  field  in  which  his  triumph 
is  inevitable.     "  Be  sober." 

"  Be  ivatchfulJ^  The  culture  of  perceptive-  Verse  8 
ness !  Not  only  be  sober,  but  thoroughly 
awake,  exercising  your  perceptions  to  the  rarest 
and  most  fruitful  refinement.  We  know  the 
large  possibilities  which  allure  us  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  physical  senses ;  equally  large 
possibilities  glow  before  us  in  the  culture  of  the 
soul.  Every  exercise  of  watchfulness  ensures 
us  stronger  sight.  In  the  quest  of  the  Divine  wo 
come  to  self-possession.  In  this  line  of  culture 
the  progress  is  from  the  greater  to  the  less. 
The  moral  senses  perceive  ever  finer  and  finer 
essences  of  good  and  evil.  Moral  progress  is  in 
the  direction  of  the  scruple.  The  finest  scholar 
in  the  school  of  Christ  is  he  who  has  the  rarest 
perception  of  the  moral  trifle.  "  He  that  doeth 
the  least  of  these  commandments  is  greatest  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Therefore,  exercise 
thy  moral  senses,  lest  the  hordes  of  evil  should 
enter  through  the  gates  of  unperceived  neglects. 
''  Be  watchful." 

"  Stedfast  in  the  faithJ^     The  culture  of  faith !  Verse  9 
Our    faith    has    to   be   "  stedfast,"   firm,   solid, 
impenetrable  like  a  wall.     Our  faith  has  to  be 
"  stedfast,"     a     rampart    of    assurance,    close, 


200  THE  FIEST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

compact,  and  invulnerable.  I  have  spoken  of 
the  cultivation  of  the  moral  sense,  and  of  its 
progress  in  the  detection  of  the  trifle.  Here 
we  are  taken  to  a  plane  of  still  higher  educa- 
tion, the  culture  of  the  spiritual  sense,  the 
apprehension  of  God,  proceeding  toward  the 
goal  of  calm  and  invincible  assurance.  To  be 
stedfast  in  faith  is  to  be  sure  of  God.  The 
grand  attainment  necessitates  continual  exercise, 
the  "  practice  of  the  presence  of  God."  We 
must  exercise  our  spiritual  muscles  in  the 
ministry  of  communion  with  God,  in  praise  and 
prayer  and  supplication  and  intercession;  the 
exercise  must  be  a  wrestling,  determined  and 
continuous,  until  there  steals  into  our  life  an 
awed  sense  of  the  Divine  presence,  and  in  the 
calmness  of  assurance  we  can  confidently  say, 
*'I  know  that  my  Eedeemer  liveth."  How, 
then,  shall  we  resist  the  devil,  in  whatsoever 
guise  he  may  appear  to  us  ?  By  the  culture  of 
sobriety;  by  the  culture  of  moral  perceptive- 
ness ;  and  by  that  culture  of  spiritual  apprehen- 
sion which  will  lead  us  into  the  peace  which  is 
strength — "  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all 
understanding." 

Now,  let  me  carry  your  minds  forward  a 
moment  to  the  contemplation  of  the  all-sujfficient 
dynamic^  which  may  be  ours  in  this  inevitable 
conflict  with  the  powers  of  evil  and  night.     The 


CHAPTER  V.   8-10  201 

culture  of  sobriety,  the  culture  of  perceptiveness, 
the  culture  of  faith  will  open  out  our  lives  to 
Him  whom  the  apostle  calls  "  the  God  of  all  gracej^  Verse  10 
and  by  His  presence  we  shall  be  energised. 
"  The  God  of  all  grace  !  "  It  is  a  beautiful  and 
wealthy  phrase,  suggestive  of  varied  endow- 
ment for  varied  and  changing  need.  My  need 
is  manifold;  the  grace  of  God  is  also  "mani- 
fold." It  will  fit  itself  to  my  need  as  light  or 
heat,  as  water  or  bread.  My  God  is  "  the  God 
of  all  grace,"  now  like  sweet  sunshine,  now  like 
burning  flame,  now  like  refreshing  dew,  now 
like  the  falling,  softening  rain.  "  The  God  of 
all  grace,"  a  tower  and  a  sword,  my  refuge  and 
my  shield.  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee  " ; 
sufficient  amid  the  beguilements  and  fascina- 
tions of  the  serpents ;  sufficient  amid  the 
plausible  refinements  of  the  angel  of  light ; 
sufficient  amid  the  apparently  destructive  forces 
of  the  lion  of  violence  and  persecution.  The 
whole  personality,  in  every  faculty  and  power, 
shall  be  pervaded  with  Divine  forces,  and  in 
thy  God  thou  shalt  find  an  exuberant  fountain 
of  mercy,  goodness,  and  compassion.  "  My  God 
shall  make  all  grace  to  abound  towards  you." 

And  what  is  to  be  the  ultimate  glory  ?     ''  The  Verse  10 
God    of    all    grace  .  .  .  shall    Himself    'perfect^ 
stablish,  strengthen  you^  Perfected  !   Established ! 
Strengthened!     Settled!    They  are    all   archi- 


202  THE  FIRST  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

tectural  metaphors,  and  are  massed  together  to 
suggest  tlie  fine  wholeness,  consistency,  finish 
and  security  of  the  grace-blessed  character  as  it 
will  appear  upon  the   glorious  fields  of  light! 
"  Established,"  every  layer  firmly  and  securely 
based !     *'  Strengthened,"    splendidly    seasoned, 
with  no   danger   of    splitting   or    of   warping! 
"Settled,"  the  entire  structure  resting  evenly, 
comfortably,  upon  the  best  and  surest  founda- 
tion!      These    are    the    metaphors,    and    they 
unveil  before  me  future  attainments  of  blessed- 
ness,   when    the     grace-filled     character     shall 
appear   before   God   like   a  firm,   well-finished, 
and  gloriously   proportioned   building;    all   the 
manifold  faculties  co-operating  in  rare  associa- 
tion ;  every  power  firm,  decisive,  and  sanctified, 
and  the   entire   life   settled   in   holy   calm  and 
comfort  on  "the  one  foundation,  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord." 

Now,  see  the  glorious  range  of  the  entire 
Verse  10 passage.  ''The  God  of  all  grace,  who  called 
you  unto  His  eternal  glory T  That  glory  is  not 
altogether  remote.  Even  now  we  are  beginning 
to  share  it.  The  spring  is  not  yet  here,  but  the 
lark  is  up !  Glory  awaits  us  in  Emmanuel's 
land;  but  we  are  finding  heavenly  tokens  by 
the  way. 

The  man  of  grace  hath  found 
Glory  begun  below. 


THE   SECOND  EPISTLE   OE 
PETER 


LIBERTY!    EQUALITY!    FRATERNITY! 

2  Peter  i.  1,  2 

Simon  Peter^  a  bondservant  and  apostle  of  Jesus  Christy 
to  them  that  have  obtained  an  equally  precious  faith  ivith 
us  in  the  righteousness  of  our  God  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ :  Grace  to  you  and  peace  be  multiplied  in  the  know- 
ledge of  God  arid  of  Jesu^  our  Lord. 

When  I  had  read  this  passage  through  many 
times  in  my  effort  to  discover  the  inwardness 
and  sequence  of  the  apostle's  thought,  there 
leapt  into  my  mind  the  great  watchword  of  the 
French  Revolution,  "Liberty,  Equality,  Fra- 
ternity!" My  text  seemed  to  accept  the  prof- 
fered ministry  of  the  watchword,  and  deigned 
to  express  itself  through  the  heightened  and 
glorified  clarion  of  the  Revolution.  Here  is 
the  secret  of  liberty  :  "  A  bondservant  and  apostle  Verse  i 
of  Jesus  Christy  And  here  is  the  basis  of 
equality :  "  They  that  have  obtained  an  equally 
precious  faith  with  us.''  And  here  is  the  very 
genius  of  fraternity :  "  Grace  to  you  and  peace  Verse  2 
be  multiplied  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of 
Jesus   our    Lord''     Here,    then,    we    have    the 

205 


206    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

apostolic     evangel    of    liberty,    equality,    and 
fraternity. 
Verse  1      Here  is  the  secret  of  liberty :  "  A  bondslave  of 
Jesus.'"     At  the  heart  of  all  trae  freedom  there 
is  a  certain  bondage.     Liberty  without  restraint 
is  always  self-destructive.     The  man  who  will 
not  be  bound  to  anything  or  anybody  is  always 
the   most   enslaved.      Even   anarchist   societies 
are   compelled    to    have    some   rules,   and    the 
making  of   a  rule  always  implies   the  forging 
of  a  chain.     Liberty  must  be  limited  if  it  is  to 
be  possessed.      Every  type  of  freedom  has  its 
chains.      That  is  true   of   intellectual   freedom. 
A  man  who  would  be  intellectually  free  must 
pay    obeisance    to    certain    laws    of     thought. 
Mental   disorder   is   a   dark   enslavement.     The 
movement  that  springs  from  obedience  to  the 
laws  of   thought   is   a  fruitful   freedom.      Free 
thought  begins  in  wearing  a  chain ;  the  mental 
freeman  is  at  heart  a  slave.     That  is  true  also 
of  political  freedom.     Political  freedom  consists 
in   the   recognition   of    individual    rights.      To 
assert  my  brother's   rights  is  to  state    a   limit 
to  my  own.     Here  again  we  start  with  a  chain. 
We   recognise   limitations.      The   real   political 
freeman  is  at  heart  a  slave.     And  this  is  true 
also  of  moral  freedom  ;  no  man  is  morally  free 
who   does  not   pay   homage  to  his  conscience. 
Moral    freedom    springs    from    the     sense     of 


CHAPTER  I.  1,  2  207 

obligation.  Apart  from  that  ligament,  tliat 
bond,  the  wbole  body  of  the  moral  life 
falls  limb  from  limb  in  inextricable  chaos  and 
confusion. 

Now  let  us  lift    the    argument    up    to    the 
highest  type  of  freedom,  the  glorious  freedom 
of  the  spirit.     A  great  writer  has  defined  the 
French  notion  of  liberty  as  political  economy 
and  the  English  notion  of  liberty  as  personal 
independence.      The    Christian    conception    of 
liberty    is    inclusive    of    these,    but    infinitely 
greater.      The    most   spacious   of    all    liberties 
is    liberation    from    seK,     and    this    kind    of 
freedom   springs   from   initial  bondage.      True 
freedom  in   the   spirit    begins    in    bondage    to 
the  Lord  of  Life.      I  am  not  surprised,   there- 
fore,  that  the.  Apostle  Peter  and  the  Apostle 
Paul,  men  who  sing  so  loudly  and  so  triumph- 
antly of  the  wealth  and  plenteousness  of  their 
freedom,   should  begin   by  proclaiming    them- 
selves the  Master's  slaves.     "  Paul,  a  bondslave 
of   Jesus."     "Peter,   a   bondslave    and   apostle 
of  Jesus    Christ."      Bondage   is  the   secret   of 
freedom. 

"Peter,  a  bondslave."  Let  us  see  what  is 
implied  in  this  suggestive  word.  First,  the 
term  "bondslave"  implies  the  achnoiuUdgment 
of  a  fact  He  is  a  slave.  He  has  been  bought. 
He  is  the  Lord's  property.     A  great  price  has 


208    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

been  paid  for  him.  The  apostle  thought  of  his 
Master's  weary  days  and  nights,  of  the  tears 
and  agonies  of  Gethsemane,  of  the  shame  and 
darkness  and  abandonment  of  Calvary.  By  all 
this  expenditure  on  the  part  of  the  Saviour 
the  apostle  had  been  bought.  He  acknowledged 
his  Master's  rights ;  he  was  his  Master's  slave. 
Secondly,  the  term  "  bondslave "  implies  the 
assumption  of  an  attitude.  The  apostle  puts 
himself  in  the  posture  of  homage  and  obedience. 
His  eye  was  ever  watching  the  Master,  his  ear 
was  ever  listening.  He  was  a  slave,  but  not 
servile.  I  do  not  know  what  word  just  ex- 
presses it ;  I  have  been  unable  to  find  one. 
But  this  I  know,  that  if  we  would  learn  what 
**  slave  "  means  in  my  text  we  must  go  to  the 
love-sphere  and  seek  the  interpretation  there. 
"VVe  must  go  where  the  lover  slaves  for  the 
loved,  and  yet  calls  her  slavery  exquisite 
freedom.  A  real  loving  mother,  slaving  for 
her  child,  would  not  change  her  slavery  for 
mines  of  priceless  wealth  or  for  unbroken  years 
of  cushioned  ease.  "Thy  willing  bondslave 
I."  And  thirdly,  to  be  a  slave  implies  the 
discharge  of  a  mission.  "Peter,  a  bondslave 
and  apostle."  He  is  sent  forth  to  do  the 
Master's  will.  The  Master  bids;  he  goes. 
Anywhere!  Through  the  long,  dusty,  tiring 
highways   of    righteousness,    or   to   the   valley 


CHAPTER  I.   1,  2  209 

f  gloom ;  "  through  the  thirsty  desert  or  the 

dewy  mead." 

His  not  to  reason  why, 
His  not  to  make  reply, 
His  but  to  do  and  die  ! 

But  in  that  bondage  the  apostle  finds  a  perfect 
freedom.  All  the  powers  of  his  being  are 
emancipated  and  sing  together  in  glorious 
liberty.  Life  that  is  fundamentally  bound  be- 
comes like  an  orchestra,  every  faculty  con- 
stituting a  well-tuned  instrument,  and  all  of 
them  co-operating  in  the  production  of  a 
harmony  which  is  well-pleasing  in  the  ears  of 
God. 

And  here  we  have  the  basis  of  equality : 
^'  To  them  that  have  obtained  an  equally  pi^ecious 
faith  with  us  in  the  righteousness  of  our  God.^^ 
Let  us  rearrange  the  words  a  little.  This  I 
think  is  the  meaning :  in  the  righteousness  of 
God,  the  absolute  justice  and  fairness  of  God, 
you  have  obtained  an  equally  precious  faith 
with  us.  God  in  His  righteousness  has,  in  this 
consummate  gift  of  faith,  made  us  gloriously 
equal.  Now  look  at  that.  Where  does  the 
apostle  begin  his  reasoning  about  our  primary 
equality?  He  begins  with  the  righteousness 
of  God.  God  is  perfectly  fair.  He  is  no  re- 
specter of  persons.  I  know  this  faith  is  troubled 
and  disturbed  by  the  material  inequalities  we 


210    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

see  around  us.  Here  is  my  little  one  safe  at 
home  in  bed,  and  here  is  another  little  one, 
not  much  older,  out  upon  the  streets  in  the 
late  night  hungry  and  cold.  Is  God  fair  ?  Here 
is  a  good  man  in  chronic  pain;  here  is  a  bad 
man  in  health  and  wealth  and  honour.  Yet 
God  is  righteous  in  His  purpose !  He  does  not 
treat  us  like  puppets  and  marionettes.  He  has 
endowed  us  with  brain  and  conscience  and 
heart  and  will,  and  He  has  committed  to  us 
the  power  by  which  many  of  these  gross  in- 
justices can  be  rectified.  If  the  Church  of  the 
living  God  were  to  awake  from  her  sleep  to- 
day you  and  I  know  how  much  could  be  done 
to  rearrange  material  comforts,  and  to  crush 
and  destroy  many  things  which  make  for  misery, 
disease,  and  death.  While  our  sword  is  rusting, 
and  our  couch  has  almost  become  our  tomb,  do 
not  let  us  raise  a  mere  debating-society  topic 
and  ask  the  question  :  Is  God  fair  ?  It  is  for 
our  own  dignity,  and  for  the  disciplining  and 
perfecting  of  the  race,  that  our  God  has  com- 
mitted unto  us  the  power  by  which  many  of 
these  burdensome  iniquities  may  be  removed. 
But,  leaving  all  these,  let  it  be  said  that  in  the 
great  primary  things,  the  things  out  of  which 
all  other  equalities  take  their  spring,  we  may 
be  grandly  equal.  We  may  all  obtain  an 
equally  precious  faith,  the  faith-dynamic  which 


CHAPTEE  I.   1,  2  211 

can  remove  mountains.  Faith  itself  is  a  gift 
of  God,  and  in  this  all  men  may  be  equal. 
You  and  Paul !  The  Salvation  Army  Captain 
and  Martin  Luther !  "  Precious  faith,"  the 
apostle  calls  it,  precious  because  of  the  wealth 
which  through  it  comes  into  the  life.  "  Faith 
buys  wine  and  milk,"  says  an  old  commentator. 
Faith  goesj  into  the  country  of  God  among  His 
vineyards,  and  out  among  His  fields,  and  eats 
and  drinks  the  rare  and  sweet  and  toothsome 
things.  I  say  that  in  this  great  primary  matter 
we  may  all  be  equal,  and  in  this  fundamental 
equality  all  other  healthy  equalities  will  find 
their  impulse  and  resource. 

And  lastly,  we  have  here  the  genius  of  frater- 
nity. "  Grace  to  you  and  peace  he  multiplied  in  ^^rse  2 
the  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Jesus'''  How  deep 
and  exquisite  is  the  spirit  of  fraternity !  What 
do  these  people  seek  for  one  another  ?  Know- 
ledge !  "  Knowledge  of  the  Lord."  And  this 
means  the  advanced  stages  of  a  science,  the 
most  perfect  learning,  the  riper  unfoldings  of 
the  glory  of  God.  They  are  ambitious  for  one 
another,  that  spiritual  obscurities  may  be  clari- 
fied, and  that  the  partial  may  be  perfected.  A 
little  while  ago,  at  the  dawning  of  the  day,  I 
looked  out  over  a  great  stretch  of  country  from 
the  vantage  ground  of  a  lofty  summit.  I  could 
only  see  things  dimly,  in  vague  and  imperfect 


212    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

outline.  There  beneatli  me  lay  stretched  out 
into  the  far  distance  a  long,  white  streak  of  dull 
silver ;  and  there  rested  a  grey  cloud ;  and 
yonder  loomed  a  dark  botch  which  seemed  to 
be  a  remnant  of  the  departing  night.  But  the 
light  came  on  apace,  and  my  knowledge  was 
advanced  and  perfected.  The  thin  white  streak 
turned  out  to  be  a  river  !  The  bank  of  grey 
mist  revealed  itself  as  a  lake  !  The  dark  botch, 
which  seemed  like  the  belated  baggage  of  the 
night,  revealed  itself  as  a  forest !  "  The  glory 
of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed."  "  Now  I  know 
in  part,  but  then.  .  .  !"  "Grace  to  you  and 
peace  be  multiplied  in  the  knowledge  of  God." 
Out  of  this  advanced  and  advancing  knowledge 
there  is  to  come  a  multiplication  of  grace  and 
peace.  Grace  is  to  be  multiplied;  the  single 
drops  are  to  become  showers ;  the  solitary  rays 
are  to  glow  like  the  noon.  And  peace  is  to  be 
multiplied,  deepened,  heightened,  and  enriched ! 
Is  not  this  the  very  genius  of  fraternity  ?  What 
thing  more  beautiful  can  brotherhood  grow  than 
wishes  and  intercessions  like  these  ? 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  EESOURCES 

2  Peter  i.  1-4 

Simon  Peter,  a  servant  and  apostle  of  Jesus  Christy  to 
them  that  have  obtained  an  equally  precious  faith  with  us  in 
the  righteousness  of  our  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ :  Grace 
to  you  and  i^eace  he  multijdied  in  the  knoivledge  of  God  and 
of  Jesus  our  Lord ;  seeing  that  His  Divine  power  hath 
granted  unto  us  all  things  that  pertain  unto  life  and 
godliness,  through  the  knowledge  of  Him  that  called  us  hy 
His  oivn  glory  and  virtus ;  whereby  He  hath  granted  unto 
us  His  precious  and  exceeding  great  promises  ;  that  through 
these  ye  may  become  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature,  having 
escaped  from  the  corruption  that  is  in  the  world  by  lust. 

Heee  is  the  apostle  reckoning  up  his  resources 
in  the  spirit.  "What  has  he  got  in  the  bank? 
Divine  power,  glory,  virtue.  How  is  the  wealth  Verse  3 
of  the  bank  given  out  to  him  ?  In  "  exceeding 
great  and  precious  promises  " ;  in  "  all  things 
that  pertain  to  life  and  godliness."  And  what 
is  accomplished  by  this  abundant  and  lavishly 
distributed  wealth  ?  "  That  through  these  ye  may  Verse  4 
become  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature,  having 
escaped  from  the  corruption  that  is  in  the 
world  by  lust.''''  Where  had  the  apostle  gained 
the  knowledge  of  his  resources  ?  He  had  found 
213 


214    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE. 

them  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
he  was  never  weary  of  reciting  his  discovery? 
to  others.  We  may  be  sure  that  when  the 
Apostle  Paul  went  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  tarried 
with  Peter,  it  would  be  of  these  marvellous 
riches  that  the  saintly  fisherman  would  speak. 
"  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  see  Peter,  and  abode 
with  him  fifteen  days."  This  well-trained  and 
expert  student,  who  had  sat  at  the  feet  of 
Gamaliel,  and  who  had  proved  to  be  one  of  his 
most  alert  and  progressive  disciples,  goes  up 
to  Jerusalem  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  another 
teacher,  the  fisherman  Peter  from  the  Galilean 
lake !  "I  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  see  Peter, 
and  abode  with  him  fifteen  days."  The  pupil 
of  Gamaliel  wanted  to  hear  from  the  lips  of  the 
fisherman  all  that  his  memory  could  recall  and 
all  that  tongue  could  tell  of  those  three  eventful 
years  !  Long  into  the  night  they  would  sit  and 
talk;  long  after  the  last  wayfarer  had  gone 
home,  and  the  sounds  in  the  streets  were  stilled ! 
The  pupil  could  never  get  enough  of  the  story, 
and  the  teller  of  the  story  never  grew  tired  in 
its  recital,  and  many  times,  in  those  crowded 
fifteen  days,  the  dawn  looked  in  through  the 
lattice  and  found  these  sleepless  men  still  busied 
in  the  story  of  their  Lord.  Peter  would  lead 
the  eager  and  reverent  steps  of  his  new  kins- 
man all  the  way  across  the  years — the  call  on 


CHAPTER  I.   1-4  215 

the  beach,  that  made  him  a  disciple,  the  strange 
revealing  miracle  on  the  lake,  the  sermon  on 
the  hill,  the  private  communions  with  the  twelve 
when  the  crowd  had  gone  away,  the  awful  and 
overwhelming  splendour  of  the  transfigured 
Presence  on  the  Mount:  then  in  hushed  and 
broken  voice  Peter  would  tell  of  Gethsemane, 
of  the  betrayal,  of  the  scene  among  the  servants 
in  the  hall,  of  his  own  denial,  of  his  Master's 
broken-hearted  look,  of  the  scourge  and  the 
crown  of  thorns,  and  the  ribaldry  and  agonies 
of  Calvary;  and  then  the  fisherman-teacher 
would  recover  his  tone  and  feelings  again  as 
he  related  the  wonders  of  the  Eesurrection,  and 
all  the  gracious  surprises  of  those  altogether 
surprising  forty  days,  until  this  pupil  of  Gamaliel, 
this  once-while  persecutor  of  the  Saviour,  could 
scarcely  tell  whether  he  was  in  the  body  or  out 
of  it !  Depend  upon  it,  those  fifteen  days  with 
Peter  left  uneffaceable  marks  upon  the  mind 
and  soul  of  Paul. 

Well,  now,  ours  is  not  the  privilege  of  hearing 
that  story  from  the  lips  of  the  fisherman-saint ; 
but  if  I  look  at  my  text  aright  I  think  that  here 
Peter  puts  his  finger  upon  what  he  conceived 
to  be  the  three  great  characteristics  of  his 
Master's  life.  It  is  something  to  have  the 
words  this  man  employs  when  his  eyes  sweep 
across  the  marvellous  experiences  which  he  had 


216    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

been  privileged  to  share.  "What  does  he  think 
about  it  all  ?  "What  are  the  things  which  stand 
out  in  predominant  distinction  ?  If  there  are 
hills  and  mountains  in  a  life  altogether  super- 
lative, what  are  the  mountains?  And  here,  I 
think,  is  the  apostle's  answer,  given  in  three  of 
the  great  words  which  lie  like  the  great  founda- 
tions of  my  text— His  "Divine  power,"  His 
"glory,"  His  "virtue." 

That  is  supremely  interesting  as  coming  to  us 
from  one  so  human,  so  altogether  akin  to  us 
as  the  Apostle  Peter.  When  he  flings  his  mind 
back  in  the  contemplation  of  his  Master,  he 
summarises  his  ever-fresh  impressions  in  the 
words,  "power,"  "virtue,"  "glory."  That  is 
what  Peter  found  in  the  Lord:  and  that  is 
what  we  may  find  in  the  Lord  to-day. 
Verse  3  What  have  we  in  the  bank  ?  Divine  'power. 
In  what  had  Peter  witnessed  the  power?  He 
had  marvelled  at  the  Master's  power  over  Him- 
seK.  He  had  stood  in  silent  wonder  as  he  gazed 
at  Jesus'  self-possession  and  self-control.  It 
was  all  so  opposed  to  his  own  self-distraction, 
his  seK-dissipation  and  indecision.  He  had 
marked  his  Master's  power  of  patience,  His 
refusal  to  be  hurried  into  any  precipitate  action, 
His  quiet  waiting  for  the  appointed  time: 
"Mine  hour  is  not  yet  come."  He  had  witnessed 
the  Lord's  inexhaustible  patience  in  the  presence 


CHAPTEE  I.   1-4  217 

of  His  foes.  How  full  of  waiting  gentleness  He 
was  through  all  those  three  years!  How  He 
bore  with  Judas,  and  how  eagerly  He  watched 
for  signs  of  his  return.  He  knew  him,  He 
pleaded  with  him ;  even  when  Judas  was  intent 
on  betrayal  He  held  him  as  by  a  hair.  And 
Peter  had  seen  the  Lord's  patience  with  His 
friends.  It  takes  an  immense  storage  of  power 
to  be  patient  with  dull  people.  And  the  Lord's 
disciples  had  been  very  dull,  and  they  had 
imbibed  the  lessons  very  slowly.  "  Do  ye  not 
yet  understand?"  ''Oh,  slow  of  heart  to 
believe !  "  And  yet  the  lesson  had  been  quietly 
repeated,  and  no  sign  of  irritableness  was  wit- 
nessed in  the  Master's  speech  and  behaviour. 
He  condescended  to  the  level  of  the  dullest- 
witted  disciple,  and  patiently  bore  with  him  as 
he  learned  the  elements  of  the  gospel  of  grace. 
I  say  Peter  had  gazed  upon  all  this — it  had  been 
a  daily  phenomenon — and  now  when  he  looked 
back  upon  it  all,  and  recalled  his  impressions 
of  these  marvellous  years,  he  was  re-impressed 
with  the  wealth  of  the  "  Divine  power  "  of  his 
Eedeemer. 

But  Peter  had  also  witnessed  the  Master^ 
power  over  others.  He  had  seen  His  trans- 
figuring influence  over  their  souls.  He  had 
seen  faces  illumined  by  His  touch.  He  had 
watched   the    lighting   up   of    a   darkened   life. 


218    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

He  had  seen  the  rekindling  of  a  Magdalene 
and  the  restoration  of  a  Zaccheus.  He  had 
seen  the  cold,  paralysing  burden  of  guilt  fall 
away  at  the  imperative  of  the  Lord's  command: 
*'Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."  And  when  the 
once  paralysed  body  buoyantly  stepped  away 
from  the  Master's  presence,  Peter  detected 
behind  the  released  body  a  quickened  and 
liberated  soul. 

Peter  had  also  seen  the  transfiguring  power 
of  the  Lord  upon  the  minds  of  others.     He  had 
seen  Him  break  the  tyranny  of  mental  bondage, 
the    sovereignty    of    vicious    thinking,    and    he 
had  seen   the   oppressor   stand   clothed   and  in 
his  right  mind.     He  had  finally  witnessed  the 
Lord's  power  over  the  bodies  of  men.     He  could 
command  the  forces  of  health,  and  they  came 
at  His  bidding.     He  could  marshal  them  as  an 
army  and  antagonise  disease  and  drive  it  away. 
He  had  seen  leprosy  pass  out  of  a  man's  face 
like  a  tide  retiring    from   the   beach.     He  had 
seen  the  mystic  element  of  life  return  into^  a 
vacant  body,  and  all  its  functions  and  faculties 
were  restored.     Is  there  any  wonder  that,  when 
Peter  gazed  back  upon    all   these   things,  his 
soul  should  bow  in  holy  reverence  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  Master's  power? 

What   else   did  the    apostle   find  emphasised 
in  his  retrospect?    He  was  confronted  by  the 


CHAPTER  I.   1-4  219 

all-predominant  peak  of  the  Lord's  "  W7'iue."  Verse  3 
The  moral  goodness  of  His  Master  was  never 
away  from  his  sight.  And  let  us  remember 
that  Peter  now  uses  words  with  the  Saviour's 
contents.  He  is  judging  his  Master  by  the 
Master's  own  standards.  There  are  many  ways 
of  using  the  same  word,  but  he  employs  it  in 
the  highest  significance.  A  scavenger  may  use 
the  word  "  clean "  as  descriptive  of  a  freshly 
swept  road;  a  surgeon  may  use  the  word 
"  clean  "  as  applied  to  the  instruments  prepared 
for  an  operation;  but  how  exacting  is  the 
second  usage  as  compared  with  the  first !  And 
here  is  the  word  "virtue."  As  employed  by 
the  world  it  has  a  very  impoverished  content, 
a  kind  of  mere  scavenger  significance;  but 
when  employed  by  the  Master  it  embraces 
absolute  purity  in  the  profoundest  depths  of 
the  life.  And  I  say  Peter  applies  the  Lord's 
own  standard  to  the  Lord's  own  life,  and  he 
pronounces  it  full  of  virtue.  He  had  listened 
to  His  conversation,  and  never  for  one  moment 
had  the  print  of  an  unclean  or  unfair  word 
crossed  his  Master's  lips.  He  had  seen  Him  in 
His  dealings  with  others,  and  never  had  a 
suggestion  of  double-dealing  appeared  in  His 
behaviour.  He  had  seen  Him  in  His  public 
life,  and  marked  how  He  had  rejected  the  help 
of  all  immoral  auxiliaries  and  of  all  short  cuts 


220    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

to  a  coveted  end.  He  liad  refused  the  ministry 
of  fire  and  the  support  of  the  sword,  and  the 
countenance  and  patronage  of  kings.  "  Wilt 
thou  that  we  call  down  fire  from  heaven?" 
He  would  have  none  of  it.  "Lord,  here  are 
swords!"  "They  that  take  the  sword  shall 
perish  by  the  sword."  "  Then  Herod  questioned 
with  Him  in  many  words."  "He  answered  him 
nothing."  Peter  was  astounded  at  the  austerity 
and  holy  sovereignty  of  his  Master's  "virtue." 
And  there  is  one  other  peak  on  which  the 
apostle  gazed  when  he  surveyed  the  three 
Verse  3  wonderful  years — the  peak  of  Divine  ^^  glory J^ 
"What  is  glory?  It  is  the  bloom  of  character. 
It  is  majesty  issuing  in  grace.  It  is  solar 
glory  falling  upon  infirm  eyes  in  rays  of  softest 
shining.  It  is  holiness  consummated  in  tender- 
ness. It  is  truth  in  the  radiant  robes  of  mercy. 
It  is  the  splendour  of  the  Godhead  shedding 
itself  abroad  in  the  delicacy  of  love.  We  must 
never  dissociate  grace  from  majesty ;  in  reality 
we  are  unable  to  do  it,  but  we  are  sorely 
tempted  in  thought  to  make  the  division.  In 
literal  truth  we  can  no  more  dissociate  them 
than  we  can  separate  the  sun  from  the  sunlight. 
*'  We  beheld  His  glory,  full  of  grace  and  truth.^^ 
So  that  when  we  are  contemplating  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  we  are  among  the  holy  tendernesses, 
the  majestic  gentkuesses,  the  incorruptible  love 


CHAPTER  I.   1-4  221 

which  forgives  and  is  never  defiled.  Glory  is 
the  manifested  presence  of  the  Lord ;  warm  and 
gentle  as  sunshine,  and  clean  and  pure  as  fire. 
Such  are  the  outstanding  characteristics  of  the 
Master's  life  as  recalled  by  this  fisherman-seer, 
the  man  who  once  shrank  from  his  Master  in 
the  awful  consciousness  of  a  tremendous  dis- 
parity, but  who  now  longs  and  prays  for  an 
even  closer  and  intimate  communion. 

Having  named  these  three  great  significant 
wealths  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  apostle  now  pro- 
claims them  as  the  possible  resources  of  all  men. 
Because  these  riches  are  in  the  Lord  Jesus  they 
constitute  a  reservoir  of  treasure  from  which  all 
His  disciples  can  draw.  It  is  wealth  in  the  bank,. 
and  to  us  is  given  the  privilege  and  the  right  to 
draw  out  from  the  bank  and  find  mercy  and 
grace  in  every  time  of  need.  What,  then,  may 
we  get  from  this  Lord  of  power  and  virtue  and 
glory  ?  We  may  obtain  ^^  precious  and  exceeding  Verse  4 
great  jproraises.^^  Now,  what  is  a  promise  ?  In 
our  modern  usage  it  is  rather  a  light-weight 
word.  It  is  often  used  as  synonymous  with 
"wish,"  and  it  carries  no  heavy  significance.  But 
the  word  as  used  in  the  New  Testament  has  a 
far  wider  and  vaster  content.  A  promise  of 
the  Lord  has  a  threefold  purpose :  it  reveals  an 
ideal,  it  kindles  an  ambition,  it  inspires  a  hope. 
We  may  take  any  promise  we  please  in  the  Word 


222    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETEB, 

of  God,  and  we  shall  find  it  enshrines  the  secret 
of  this  threefold  ministry.     Take,  for  instance, 
the  promise  "  I  wiU  give  you  rest."     Here  we 
have  the  revelation  of  the  ideal— the  restful  life, 
the    harmonious   life;    not    the    still  life    of   a 
mountain  tarn,  but  the  full,  brimming  life  of  the 
river.     Rest  is  not  the  repose  of  stillness ;  it  is 
the  absence  of  friction,  the  music  of  co-operation. 
Here,  then,  is  an  ideal.     As  I  contemplate  it,  it 
kindles   an   ambition,   and  my   soul  covets  the 
gracious  inheritance.     A  gospel  promise  trans- 
forms ambition  into  a  mighty  hope,  and  in  the 
strength   of   a   great   expectancy  the   promised 
thing  becomes  possessed.     So  it  is  with  all  the 
promises   of  the   Lord.     They   are    "exceeding 
great  "  the  ideal  stretches  across  the  life  and  fills 
the  firmament;  and  they  are  "precious,"  pregnant 
with  the  possibility  of  inconceivable  enrichment. 
But  all  this  is  not   enough.     A  promise   may 
reveal  an  ideal,  and  it  may  kindle  an  ambition, 
and  it  may  inspire  a  hope,  and  yet  it  may  fail  to 
confer  an  operative  endowment.     I  am  not  sur- 
prised, therefore,  to  find  that  the  apostle  goes  on 
to  record  the  gift  of  an  endowment  which  is  as 
Ver.e  3  sure  as  the  word  of  the  promise.     "  His  Divine 
power  hath  granted  unto  us  all  things  that  pertain 
unto  life  and  godliness,''     In  the  Lord  the  behever 
has    not    only   promise,  but    equipment.     "All 
things  that  pertain  to  life  !  "     The  life  that  now 


CHAPTER  T.   1-4  223 

is !     Whatever  is  requisite  for  a  splendid  life  we 
may  assuredly  find  in  our  Lord.     It  is  not  needful 
to  have  a  strong  body,  but  it  is  essential  to  have 
a  fine  judgment,  and  this  we    may  find  in  the 
Lord.     "  The  meek  will  He  guide  in  judgment." 
"  I  will  counsel  thee  with  Mine  eye  upon  thee.'* 
"  He  that  f olloweth  Me  shall  not  walk  in  dark- 
ness, but  shall  be  the  light  of  life."     It  is  not 
needful  to  have  a  heavy  purse,  but  it  is  essential 
to  have  a  sweet  temper,  and  this  we  may  find  in 
the  Lord.     A  harsh  and  ugly  temper  is  not  only 
destructive  to  one's  own  peace,  and  mars  one's 
own  work,  but  it  works  havoc  upon  the  peace 
and  ministry  of  others.     "  Love  suifereth  long  " ; 
it  is  a  fine,  chaste,  gracious  temper,  one  of  the 
commanding    things    that    pertain   to   life    and 
godliness.     It  is  not  needful  to   have   a   great 
following,   but  it   is   essential  to   have  a  com- 
panionable conscience,  and  this  we  may  find  in 
the  Lord.     A  man  has  got  a  splendid  travelling 
companion  when  he  is  on  good  terms  with  his 
own  conscience.     And  a  man  is  weak,  miserably 
weak,  even  with  the  support  of  a  multitude,  if 
his  own  conscience  is  ranked  among  his  foes. 
"  A  good  conscience  "  is  one  of  the  things  that 
pertain  to  life,  and  we   may  find  in  the  bank 
"a   conscience   void  of  offence."     "The  things 
that  pertain  unto  hfe  "  are  not  the  things  that 
are  commonly  named ;  and  "  the  things  that  per- 


224    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

tain  unto  life  and  godliness  "  are  still  more  rarely 
found  upon  the  lips  of  men.  "  The  things  that 
pertain  unto  life  and  godliness  "  are  such  things 
as  I  have- named — a  good  judgment,  a  sweet 
temper,  a  companionable  conscience,  and  above 
all,  and  as  the  root  of  all,  the  gift  of  faith,  the 
gift  of  love,  the  fruits  of  forgiveness,  the  grand 
sense  of  reconciliation  with  God,  which  form  the 
glorious  inheritance  of  every  man  in  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  And  all  this  we  may  take  out 
of  the  bank,  "  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises,"  filling  one's  life  with  a  vast  ideal  and 
with  a  fervent  ambition  and  with  an  ardent 
hope ;  and  "  all  things  that  pertain  unto  life  and 
godliness,"  everything  that  is  needful  for  the 
attainment  of  moral  and  spiritual  strength  and 
perfectness. 

And  so  we  have  looked  at  our  wealth  in 
the  bank,  the  power  and  virtue  and  glory  of 
the  Lord.  And  we  have  looked  at  what  we 
can  draw  out  of  the  bank — "  exceeding  great 
and  precious  promises";  "all  things  that  pertain 
unto  life  and  godliness."  And  what  is  to  be 
the  end  of  it  all  ?  What  is  our  possible 
Verse  4  destiny  ?  "  That  through  these  ye  may  become 
partakers  of  the  Divine  nature^  having  escaped 
from  the  corruption  that  is  in  the  world  by  lust^ 
So  the  ministry  of  the  wealth  is  to  effect  a 
deliverance  and  a  glorious  adoption!     We  are 


CHAPTER  I.   1-4  225 

to  escape  one  thing  and  find  refuge  in  another. 
Here  is  our  deliverance,  "having  escaped  the 
corruption  that  is  in  the  world."  Alas  !  we  can 
be  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  presence  of  corruption. 
It  is  everywhere  about  us;  in  this  corruption 
men  and  women  are  everywhere  enslaved.  The 
enslavement  has  various  guises.  Dante,  in  the 
Divina  Commedia^  tells  us  that  when  he  turned 
from  the  desert  plain  to  scale  the  shining  mount 
he  encountered  three  beasts.     And  first 

A  leopard,  supple,  Hthe,  exceeding  fleet, 
Whose  skin  full  many  a  dusky  spot  did  stain. 

He  found  a  leopard  in  the  way,  a  beast  which 
typified  the  love  of  sensual  beauty,  and  in 
this  beastliness  many  souls  are  enslaved.  And 
then  he  met  a  lion 

Who  seemed  as  if  upon  him  he  would  leap, 
With  head  upraised  and  hunger  fierce  and  wild. 

In  the  lion  he  typified  the  pride  of  strength,  the 
vanity  of  perilous  independence.  And  in  this 
servitude  how  many  souls  are  enslaved  ?  And 
then  he  met  a  she-wolf — 

A  she-wolf  with  all  greed  defiled. 

Laden  with  hungry  leanness  terrible, 

That  many  nations  had  their  peace  beguiled. 

And  the  she-wolf  typified  the  spirit  of  greed, 
the  imprisoning  bondage  in  which  many  souls 
are    enslaved.      These    three    beasts    are    ever 


226    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

found  in  tlie  way  of  tlie  man  wlio  would  leave 
the  level  plain  and  take  the  shining  slope.  He 
will  meet  the  leopard  and  the  lion  and  the 
wolf.  But  in  Christ  we  have  the  means  of 
deliverance.  We  can  pass  the  beasts  in  safety, 
and  "  escape  the  corruption  that  is  in  the 
world  through  lust."  And  with  the  deliverance 
there  comes  the  glory  of  adoption.  From  the 
company  of  beasts  we  are  translated  into  the 
fellowship  and  family  of  God.  We  "become 
partakers  of  the  Divine  nature."  We  draw 
upon  the  power  of  the  Lord,  the  virtue  of  the 
Lord,  the  glory  of  the  Lord !  More  and  more 
does  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  rest  upon  us  and 
within  us.  We  become  ever  more  finely  en- 
dowed with  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ. 
"We  are  transformed  into  the  same  image 
from  glory  to  glory." 


DILIGENCE  IN  THE  SPIRIT 

2  Peter  i.  5-9 

Yea,  and  for  this  very  cause  adding  on  your  part  all 
diligence,  in  your  faith  supply  virtue  ;  and  in  your  virtue 
knoivledge ;  and  in  your  knoivledge  temperance;  and  in 
your  temperance  jxitience  ;  and  in  your  patience  godliness  ; 
and  in  your  godliness  love  of  the  brethren;  and  in  your 
love  of  the  brethren  love.  For  if  these  things  are  yours  and 
abound,  they  make  you  to  be  not  idle  nor  unfruitful  unto 
the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesu^  Christ.  For  he  that 
lacketh  these  things  is  blind,  seeing  only  what  is  near,  having 
forgotten  the  cleansing  from  his  old  sins. 

In  our  previous  meditation  we  were  considering 
the  vast  resources  which  are  the  inheritance 
of  every  believer  in  Christ  Jesus.  We  gazed 
upon  our  bulKon  in  the  bank.  We  reverently 
contemplated  the  ''  exceeding  great  and  precious 
promises,"  and  we  bowed  in  awe  before  the 
overwhelming  ministry  of  God's  redeeming 
grace.  And  now  what  shall  we  do  with  these 
stupendous  resources  ?  We  must  not  allow  the 
Divine  wealth  to  soothe  us  into  slumberous 
and  perilous  impotence.  If  the  Lord  makes 
us  to  "lie  down  in  green  pastures,"  it  is  only 
that   by  the    gracious    renewal  we    might    be 

227 


228    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

enabled  to  walk  in  "  the  paths  of  righteousness 
Verse  5  for  His  name's  sake."  Therefore  ''''for  this  very 
cause  add  on  your  part  all  diligence.''^  It  is  a 
demand  for  business  vigilance  in  the  realm  of 
the  spirit.  "We  are  not  to  close  our  eyes  and 
allow  our  limbs  to  hang  limp,  in  the  ex- 
pectancy that  the  Lord  will  carry  us  like  blind 
logs.  He  made  us  of  clay,  but  he  formed  us 
men,  and  as  men  He  purposes  that  we  shall 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  And  so 
.  He  calls  for  "  diligence."  It  is  a  word  which 
elsewhere  is  translated  haste,  carefulness,  busi- 
ness. It  is  very  wonderful  how  commonly  the 
New  Testament  takes  its  similes  from  the  com- 
mercial world.  "  Trade  ye  herewith  till  I  come." 
"  Look  therefore  carefully  how  ye  walk,  buying 
up  the  opportunity."  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  like  unto  a  merchantman."  In  all  these  varied 
passages  there  is  a  common  emphasis  upon  the 
necessity  of  businesslike  qualities  in  our  spiritual 
life.  We  are  called  upon  to  manifest  the  same 
earnestness,  the  same  intensity,  the  same 
strenuousness  in  the  realm  of  spiritual  enter- 
prise as  we  do  in  the  search  for  daily  bread. 
And  yet  how  frequent  and  glaring  is  the 
contrast  between  a  man's  religious  life  and  his 
life  in  the  office  or  upon  the  exchange.  His 
life  seems  to  be  lived  in  separate  compartments ; 
the  one  is  suggestive  of  laxity  and  a  waiting 


CHAPTER  I.  5-9  229 

upon  liappy  luck ;  the  other  is  characterised 
by  a  fiery  ardour  and  keen  sagacity.  There 
is  method  in  the  office ;  there  is  disorder  in 
the  closet.  But  here,  I  say,  is  a  demand  that 
men  should  be  as  businesslike  in  winning 
holiness  as  in  seeking  material  wealth.  "We 
must  bring  method  into  our  religion.  We  must 
find  out  the  best  means  of  kindling  the  spirit 
of  praise,  and  of  engaging  in  quick  and  cease- 
less communion  with  God,  and  then  we  must 
steadily  adhere  to  these  as  a  business  man 
adheres  to  well-tested  systems  in  commercial 
life.  We  must  bring  alertness  into  our  religion ; 
we  must  watch  with  all  the  keenness  of  an 
open-eyed  speculator,  and  we  must  be  intent 
upon  "  buying  up  every  opportunity  for  the 
Lord."  We  must  bring  promptness  into  our 
religion.  When  some  fervent  impulse  is  glow- 
ing in  our  spirits  we  must  not  play  with  the 
treasured  moment;  "we  must  strike  while  the 
iron  is  hot."  "  Now  is  the  accepted  time,  now 
is  the  day  of  salvation."  We  must  bring  bold- 
ness  into  our  religion.  Timid  men  make  no 
fine  ventures.  In  the  realm  of  religion  it  is 
he  who  ventures  most  who  acquires  most.  Our 
weakness  lies  in  our  timidity.  Great  worlds 
are  waiting  for  us  if  only  we  have  the  courage 
to  go  in  and  possess  them.  "  Why  are  ye  fearful, 
0   ye   of  little   faith?"      And   we   must   bring 


230    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

persistence  into  our  religion.  We  must  not  sit 
down  and  wail  some  doleful  complaint  because 
the  seed  sown  in  the  morning  did  not  bring  the 
harvest  at  night.  "We  must  not  encourage  a 
spirit  of  pessimism  because  our  difficulties  appear 
insuperable.  We  must  go  steadily  on  and  wear 
down  every  resistance  in  the  grace-fed  ex- 
pectancy that  we  shall  assuredly  win  if  we  faint 
not.  Such  are  the  characteristics  of  common 
diligence  which  we  are  to  bring  into  co-operative 
fellowship  with  the  forces  of  grace.  "  Seest 
thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  business  ?  He  shall 
stand  before  kings;  he  shall  not  stand  before 
mean  men." 

Assuming,  then,  that  these  business  qualities 
and  aptitudes  are  being  brought  into  the 
ministry  of  the  Spirit,  we  must  now  address 
ourselves  to  the  expansion  of  our  spiritual  traffic, 
to  the  enrichment  of  our  souls,  and  the  enlarge- 
erses  5-7  ment  of  our  spiritual  stock.  "  In  your  faith 
supply  virtue ;  and  in  your  virtue  knowledge ;  and 
in  your  knowledge  temperance;  and  in  your 
temperance  patience ;  and  in  your  patience  godli- 
ness;  and  in  your  godliness  love  of  the  brethren; 
and  in  your  love  of  the  brethren  love^  It  is  surely 
the  addition  of  ever  new  departments  to  the 
wealthy  interests  of  the  soul !  But  let  us  mark 
that  the  endeavour  after  enlargement  must  have 
precise  and  distinctive  aim.     It   is  one  of  the 


CHAPTER  I.   5-9  231 

perils  of  the  religious  life  that  we  so  frequently 
lose  ourselves  in  vague  and  pointless  generalities. 
Our  confessions  of  sin  have  no  pertinence,  and 
our  aspirations  after  holiness  have  no  shining 
peaks.  We  must  define  our  ambitions,  and  let 
them  glow  before  us  as  distinct  and  radiant 
goals.  It  was  a  wise  old  monk  who  wrote,  "  We 
must  always  have  some  fixed  purpose,  and 
especially  against  those  sins  which  do  most  of 
all  hinder  us."  The  principle  is  equally  effective 
and  applicable  in  the  pursuit  of  virtue.  What 
do  I  lack?  Let  me  examine  myself.  It  will 
probably  be  found  that  the  things  which  most 
displease  me  in  others  are  just  the  things  which 
most  characterise  myself.  Am  I  impatient? 
Let  me  supply  it.  Do  I  lack  self-control  ?  Let 
me  supply  it.  Is  my  love  of  the  brethren 
wanting  in  range  ?  Let  me  supply  it.  But  can 
we  supply  these  additions  at  will  ?  Ah,  but  the 
writer  of  this  Epistle  is  not  beginning  with 
ethical  counsel.  He  began  by  taking  us  round 
the  bank  and  showing  us  the  mighty  resources 
on  which  we  can  draw.  And  then,  after  the 
contemplation  of  our  wealth,  he  assumes  that  we 
are  taking  possession  of  it  by  faith,  and  that 
in  the  strength  of  that  faith  we  are  translating 
our  strength  into  holy  attainment  in  common 
life.  It  is  a  will  that  is  rooted  in  God,  and  from 
God  is  drawing  the  strength  it  needs,  which  is 


232    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

engaged  in  this  active  ministry  of  adding  to 
its  moral  and  spiritual  treasures.  And  a  will 
so  set  can  attain  unto  anything,  and  can  become 
clothed  in  the  superlative  beauties  of  the  likeness 
of  Christ. 

But  here,   now,   is   a   vital   principle ;    every 

added  virtue  strengthens  and  transfigures  every 

other  virtue.     Every  addition  to  character  affects 

the  colour  of  the  entire  character.     In  Huskin's 

great  work  of  Modern  Painters^  he  devotes  one 

chapter  to  what  he  calls  "  The  Law  of  Help." 

And  here  is  the  paragraph  in  which  he  defines 

the  law  :  "  In  true  composition,  everything  else 

not   only   helps    everything   else    a    little,   but 

helps  it  with  its  utmost  power.     Every  atom  is 

full  of  energy.     Not  a  line,  not  a  speck  of  colour, 

but  is  doing  its  very  best,  and  that  best  is  aid." 

It  is  even  so  in  the  composition    of   character. 

Every  addition  I  make   to  my  character   adds 

to  the  general  enrichment.     The   principle  has 

its  reverse  application.     To  withdraw  a  single 

grace    is   to   impoverish   every   element  in  the 

religious  life.     "  For  whosoever  shall  keep  the 

whole   law,  and  yet   stumble   in   one   point,  is 

become  guilty  of   all."     We  cannot  poison  the 

blood   in    one   limb   without    endangering    the 

entire    circulation.      But    it     is     the     positive 

application  of  the  principle  with  which  we  are 

now  concerned.    And    the    graces    are    a    co- 


CHAPTER  I.  5-9  233 

operative  brotherhood,  they  are  interpervasive, 
and  each  one  lends  energy  and  colour  to  the 
whole.     We  cannot  possibly  supply  a  new  grace 
to  the  life  without  bringing  wealth  to  all   our 
previous  acquirements.      For   instance,  here   is 
*' godliness."     Godliness  by  itself  may  be  very 
regular,  and  at  the  same  time  very  icy  and  very 
cold.     It  is  like  a  room  without  a  fire.     But  now 
"  in  your  godliness   supply   love."      And  what 
a   difference   a    fire    always   makes   to   a  well- 
furnished  room  !     Love  brings  the  fire  into  the 
cold  chamber,  and  godliness  becomes  a  genial 
thing  with   a   new   glow  upon  it,   and   a   new 
geniality    at    its    heart.      But    the    love    thus 
supplied  not  only  enriches  godliness,  but  every 
other  grace    as   well.      What    a    tenderness   it 
gives  to    patience,    and    what    a    soft    beauty 
it    brings    to    self-control!      Take   love    away 
from   the   circle   of   the   graces,    and   they   are 
like  a  varied   landscape  when   the   sun   is   hid 
behind  the  clouds.     "  In  your  faith  supply  .  .  . 
love."     And  so  on,  with  never-ceasing  additions, 
for  ever  enriching  the  entire  life  of  the  soul. 

Men  who  bring  such  business-like  qualities 
into  the  sphere  of  their  religion,  and  who  are 
continually  enriching  their  spiritual  stock,  make 
a  lasting  contribution  to  the  common  weal. 
*'  For  if  these  things  are  yours  and  abound^  they 
make  you  to  be  not  idk  nor  unfruitful  unto  the 


Verse  8 


234    THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christy  Such  lives 
are  "  not  idle,"  they  are  active ;  they  are  not 
*'  unfruitful,"  they  are  efficient.  Surely  one 
could  not  find  two  words  more  descriptive  of 
a  worthy  and  positive  life ;  it  is  active  and 
efficient.  It  is  active  and  efficient  on  the  side 
of  reception,  the  whole  life  being  gloriously 
open  to  the  incoming  of  the  Divine ;  it  is  active 
and  efficient  in  the  ministry  of  impartation, 
communicating  itself  in  rich  currency  to  the 
interests  and  affairs  of  the  world.  We  become 
the  best  and  the  most  active  and  the  most 
efficient  citizens  when  we  contribute  to  the 
common  life  the  gift  of  sweet  and  perfected 
dispositions.  A  poor  but  sanctified  life  is  a 
magnificent  civic  asset !  Who  can  compute 
the  value  to  a  community  of  a  character  en- 
riched by  patience,  by  self-control,  by  brotherly 
kindness,  and  by  love  ?  Such  characters  are 
moral  health  centres ;  they  bring  ozone  into 
the  crowded  thoroughfares  of  common  life. 
That  is  the  true  efficiency,  as  indeed  that  is 
the  true  success,  which  makes  an  enduring 
contribution  to  the  common  wealth.  Such 
things  can  never  die. 

What  then?  If  we  are  businesslike,  con- 
tinually adding  to  our  spiritual  stock,  and 
thereby  contributing  to  the  common  weal,  what 
will  be  the  issue?     The  apostle  expresses  the 


CHAPTER  I.  5-9  235 

issue  in  negation.  ''  He  that  lacketh  these  things  Verse  9 
is  hlind.'^  Then  if  a  man  possess  these  things 
he  is  consequently  endowed  with  sight.  Every 
supplied  grace  enlarges  the  spiritual  vision. 
Every  refinement  of  the  disposition  is  the 
acquirement  of  an  extra  lens.  And  now  I 
think  of  it,  my  text  is  like  a  vast  drawn-out 
telescope,  with  lens  after  lens  added,  ever  con- 
tributing to  the  intensity  and  extension  of  its 
range.  See  how  it  runs :  "  Add  virtue,  and 
knowledge,  and  temperance,  and  patience,  and 
godliness,  and  love  of  the  brethren,  and  love ! " 
What  seeing  power  a  man  will  gain  with  a 
telescope  like  this!  But  lacking  these  things 
I  should  only  see  things  that  are  near,  and 
there  will  be  no  distant  alluring  vision,  and 
every  thought  will  be  of  the  immediate  day. 
Lacking  "  these  things,"  bread  is  bread  alone  ; 
let  these  things  be  added,  and  our  daily  bread 
becomes  a  sacrament  through  which  we  see 
the  very  beauty  of  the  Christ.  Without  "  these 
things,"  affliction  becomes  a  dark  and  a  heavy 
deposit ;  let  "  these  things,"  be  added,  and  we 
can  see  its  issue  in  "  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory."  Drop  "  these  things," 
and  life  becomes  a  thing  of  purely  transient 
import,  a  jostle  and  a  squabble  for  a  slice  of 
bread.  Let  "  these  things  "  be  added,  and  life 
becomes  endowed  with  eternal  significance,  and 


236    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

every  little  duty  becomes  an  open  gate  into 
the  infinite  world.  And  so  the  apostle  con- 
cludes his  exhortation  by  re-emphasising  his 
Verse  10  kindly  and  urgent  counsel.  ^^  Wherefore^ 
brethren^  give  the  more  diligence^  Let  every  atom 
of  energy  be  devoted  to  your  holy  cause. 
Never  let  your  prayers  be  scrimped  and  nig- 
gardly !  Do  not  enter  into  life  maimed,  and  so 
escape  corruption  by  the  skin  of  your  teeth! 
Seek  to  win  life,  and  to  win  it  well,  "  for  thus 
shall  be  richly  supplied  unto  you  an  entrance 
into  the  eternal  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 


THE    SANCTIFICATION    OF    THE 
MEMORY 

2  Petee  i.  12-15 

Wherefore  I  shall  he  ready  always  to  put  you  in  re- 
membrance of  these  thiTigs,  though  ye  know  them^  and  are 
established  in  the  truth  which  is  with  you.  And  I  think 
it  right,  as  Imig  as  I  am  in  this  tabernacle^  to  stir  you  up 
by  putting  you  in  remembrance ;  knowing  that  the  putting 
off  of  my  tabernacle  cometh  swiftly,  even  as  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  signified  unto  me.  Yea,  I  will  give  diligence  that 
at  every  time  ye  may  be  able  after  my  decease  to  call  these 
things  to  remembrance. 

**  1  shall  be  ready  always  to  put  you  in  remem-  verse  12 
brance  of  these  things.  And  what  things  are 
these  ?  We  have  seen  how  the  earlier  counsels 
of  this  great  chapter  are  disposed.  It  is  as 
though  we  had  first  a  description  of  rare  and 
fertile  soil,  and  then  a  catalogue  of  the  mar- 
vellously bountiful  fruits  which  can  be  grown 
in  it.  Or  to  change  our  figure,  it  is  as  though 
the  earlier  verses  are  descriptive  of  every  man's 
banking  account,  and  the  later  verses  point  out 
the  possible  issues  of  vigilant  and  aggressive 
enterprise.      The  whole   passage  begins  in  the 

237 


238    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

general  endowment  of  grace  and  peace,  and  it 
finishes  in  the  glorious  possibility  of  an  abun- 
dant entrance  "  into  the  eternal  kingdom  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

''I  shall  be  ready  always  to  put  you  in 
remembrance  of  these  things."  It  is  vital  that 
we  remember  this  connection  between  soil  and 
fruits,  between  capital  and  labour.  It  is  all- 
important  that  we  hold  the  apostolic  teaching 
that  the  Christian  gospel  is  not  a  theory  to  be 
defended,  but  an  inheritance  to  be  explored 
and  enjoyed.  The  Christian  is  not  first  an 
apologist,  or  even  an  evangelist,  but  an  experi- 
mentalist, dealing  personally  with  the  proffered 
grace  and  power  of  his  Lord.  At  every 
moment  the  Christian  is  both  passive  and 
active,  passively  receiving  the  redemptive 
power  of  grace,  and  actively  working  it  out 
in  rich  and  perfected  character.  He  is  both 
suppliant  and  ambassador;  he  communes  with 
God,  he  intercedes  with  man.  He  is  not 
separately  a  man  of  the  cloisters  or  a  man  of 
the  street;  he  is  both  in  one.  He  keeps  in 
touch  with  the  tremendous  background  of  grace 
in  order  that  he  may  fill  his  foreground  with 
the  fruits  of  grace  in  Christian  life  and  duty. 
He  brings  the  infinite  into  the  trifle,  and  he 
knows  that  without  the  powers  of  eternal 
salvation  he  cannot  redeem  the  passing  day. 


CHAPTER  I.   12-15  239 

In  a  word  the  Christian  takes  knowledge  of  his 
resources  and  does  not  dare  to  seek  to  live 
his  life  without  them.  He  remembers  "these 
things." 

But  is  it  not  a  strange  thing  that  we  should 
ever  be  inclined  to  forget  them  ?  We  should 
surely  assume  that  whatever  other  things  we 
might  be  inclined  to  forget  we  should  always 
remember  that  we  are  spiritual  millionaires. 
Is  it  possible  that  in  doing  the  little  business 
of  life  we  can  ever  forget  our  buried  capital 
in  the  Lord,  the  treasure  laid  up  for  us  in 
heaven,  and  seek  to  win  spiritual  success 
without  it  ?  Yes,  aU  this  is  a  grave  possibility, 
and  therefore  the  apostle  ardently  labours  to 
keep  our  remembrance  alert.  Memory  is  such 
a  child  of  caprice,  even  in  purely  human 
matters !  The  memory  is  in  the  habit  of 
playing  curious  pranks.  We  can  remember 
people's  faces,  but  we  forget  their  names. 
We  remember  a  story,  but  we  forget  its  date. 
We  can  repeat  all  the  marriage  relationships 
of  the  royal  house,  but  we  forget  the  steps  of 
even  a  short  argument.  We  can  recall  the 
unessential,  and  we  forget  the  fundamental. 
"  Memory  is  a  capricious  witch ;  she  husbands 
bits  of  straw  and  rag,  and  throws  her  jewels 
out  of  the  window."  And  certainly  in  higher 
relationships   our  memory   gives   us   no   better 


240    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

service.  We  remember  a  single  injury  and 
we  forget  a  multitude  of  gracious  benefits.  We 
remember  material  experiences  and  incidents, 
but  we  forget  the  things  which  most  p]«^ofoundly 
concern  our  peace.  There  is  therefore  surely 
great  need  for  the  strenuous  word  of  the 
apostle.  And  it  is  as  urgent  upon  us  as  upon 
the  men  and  women  of  his  own  day  that  we 
vigorously  set  about  to  exercise  and  sanctify 
the  powers  of  our  remembrance. 

Now,  what  can  we  say  about  it  ?  Let  us 
begin  here.  The  intensity  of  our  remembrance 
very  largely  depends  upon  the  depth  of  the 
original  impressions.  Some  incidents  bite  deep 
into  the  mind,  like  acid  into  metal ;  they  are  not 
printed,  but  graven ;  not  written,  but  burned. 
Other  impressions  are  like  the  writing  upon 
the  steamed  window-panes  of  a  railway  carriage  ; 
let  the  outside  atmosphere  get  a  little  warmer 
and  they  pass  away  in  an  hour.  Now  the 
depth  of  the  impression  is  determined  by  the 
vividness  of  the  vision.  If  our  gaze  is  cursory 
the  impression  will  be  transient.  How  does  all 
this  bear  upon  our  remembrance  in  the  spirit  ? 
It  has  this  most  crucial  bearing  ;  our  impressions 
are  fleeting  because  we  do  not  give  sufficient 
time  to  receive  them.  The  vision  does  not 
bite!  What  can  a  man  know  of  the  country 
of  Uganda  by  careering  through  it  in  a  railway 


CHAPTER  I.   12-15  241 

train?  What  can  a  man  know  of  the  wealth 
and  glory  of  our  National  Gallery  if  he  takes 
the  chambers  at  a  gallop  ?  If  he  is  to  retain  a 
lasting  and  a  vivid  remembrance  he  must  sit 
down  before  one  of  the  masterpieces,  and  allow 
himself  to  steep  in  the  contemplation  of  its 
glory.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  take  a  snapshot 
of  the  interior  of  a  cathedral.  If  the  exquisite 
tracery,  and  even  the  dim  outlines  of  the 
structure,  are  to  be  captured,  it  will  be  done  as 
the  issue  of  a  long  exposure.  And  so  it  is  with 
the  vastness  of  our  inheritance  in  Christ.  Our 
visions  come  from  long  exposures ;  we  have 
got  to  sit  down  reverently  and  gaze  upon  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  in  prolonged  contemplation. 
"We  sometimes  sing,  "  There  is  life  for  a  look 
at  the  Crucified  One  ! "  That  is  scarcely  true  if 
by  look  we  mean  a  transient  glance,  a  passing 
nod,  a  momentary  turning  of  the  eyes.  "  There 
is  life  for  a  gaze^^^  and  that  life  is  continuous 
only  so  long  as  the  gaze  is  retained.  If  we  only 
glance  upon  the  Master  we  shall  forget  the 
impression  at  the  next  turning  of  the  way ;  the 
enemy  will  come,  and  will  snatch  away  that 
which  was  sown  in  our  hearts.  The  strength 
of  our  memory  depends  upon  the  depth  of  our 
impressions. 

It  is  equally  true   that   the   intensity  of  the 
remembrance    also   depends    upon  the   studied 


242    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

preservation    of    the    impressions.      There   are 
forces   ever   about  us   that  minister  to  erasion 
and  oblivion.     I  noticed  the  other  day  that  the 
workmen  were  engaged  upon  a  very  conspicuous 
monument  in  London,  deepening  the  inscriptive 
letters  which  told   the   heroic   story.     The  cor- 
rosives of  time  had  been  at  work  upon  the  once 
deep  impressions,  and  they  were  being  gradually 
effaced.     And   so   it   is   with   the    lines   in   our 
memory ;  time  is  hostile  to  their  retention,  and 
is  ever  at  work  seeking  their  effacement.     And 
so    the    impressions    need    to    be    periodically 
deepened  and  revived.     Have  we  any  ministries 
for   effecting  this   purpose?     Yes,   I  think  we 
have  many.     A  ^kce  can  do  it.     If  you  go  back 
to  the  little  village  where  you  spent  your  early 
days,  how  the  old  life  comes  back  to  you  as  you 
tread  the  accustomed  ways  and  turn  the  familiar 
corners !     How  the   sight   of   an   old  well   can 
recall  an  experience,  and  even  a  drop  upon  the 
bucket  can  revive  feelings  which  carry  you  back 
to   your   youth.     And   a    place   can   sometimes 
refresh  and   deepen   a   spiritual  impression.      I 
wonder  if  Simon  Peter  ever  went  back  to  the 
court  of  the  High  Priest's   palace !     I  warrant 
he   never  passed    near  the    door    without  the 
fountain  of  tears  being  unsealed,  and  the  stream 
of   penitential    feelings   flowing   anew.      There 
was  a  littlo  place  in  a  garden  to  which  Thomas 


CHAPTER  I.   12-15  243 

Boston  used  to  repair  whenever  lie  wanted  to 
quicken  his  early  love  for  the  Lord.  It  was 
his  spiritual  birthplace,  and  the  very  place 
seemed  to  abound  in  the  ministry  of  regenera- 
tion. It  would  be  an  amazingly  fruitful  thing 
if  some  of  my  readers,  whose  spiritual  fervour 
is  growing  cool,  and  whose  early  conception  of 
the  Lord  is  becoming  faint,  would  spare  a  day 
to  go  to  the  place  where  first  they  knew  the 
Lord,  and  I  warrant  that  the  sacred  spot  would 
re-deepen  the  lines  of  their  early  covenant,  and 
they  would  find  themselves  revived.  It  would 
be  a  great  day  in  many  a  man's  life  if  he  would 
go  back  to  the  little  village  church,  and  sit  for 
one  Sunday  in  the  seat  which  he  occupied  when 
there  broke  upon  his  wonderings  eyes  the 
vision  of  the  glory  of  his  Lord.  For  a  place 
can  renew  the  lines  of  our  remembrances. 

And  a  thiTig  can  do  it.  An  apparently  com- 
monplace thing  can  recall  a  conspicuous  history. 
I  have  known  the  scent  of  a  flower  unveil  a  day 
which  seemed  to  have  been  buried  in  permanent 
obscurity.  I  never  get  the  fragrance  of  the 
common  dog-rose  without  my  memory  leaping 
back  to  an  old-fashioned  garden  in  the  North, 
and  peopling  that  garden  with  presences  now 
gone,  and  awaking  experiences  which  are  preg- 
nant with  inspiration  and  peace.  But  the 
principle  has  higher  applications  still.     A  piece 


244    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

of  broken  bread  can  recall  the  broken  body  of 
the  Lord,  and  a  cup  of  wine  can  become  the 
sacramental  minister  of  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 
Can  we  afford  to  forget  these  helpmeets  of 
grace  ?  Even  the  superlative  verities  of  our 
faith  sometimes  grow  dim  to  our  eyes,  and  we 
temporarily  lose  our  hold  upon  them.  Let  us 
make  use  of  every  means  appointed  by  the 
Lord,  if  perchance  our  memory  may  be  revived 
and  these  fruitful  sanctities  may  be  retained. 

When  I  survey  the  wondrous  Cross 
On  which  the  Prince  of  Glory  died, 

My  richest  gain  I  count  but  loss, 
And  pour  contempt  on  all  my  pride. 

An  incident  can  do  it.  How  frequently  it 
happens  that  the  hands  busy  themselves  in 
doing  a  thing  which  has  not  been  done  for 
many  years,  and  the  little  action  draws  the 
curtain  back  from  our  youth.  I  played  a  little 
game  the  other  day  which  I  had  not  played 
since  boyhood,  and  in  very  literal  feeling  I 
was  a  boy  again,  and  all  the  past  environ- 
ments round  about  my  feet.  And  it  is  even 
so  with  activity  of  a  higher  kind.  That  bit  of 
Christian  work  you  dropped,  and  the  dropping 
of  which  has  brought  such  a  heavy  penalty  of 
spiritual  degeneracy  and  recoil !  Take  it  up 
again!  Your  Lord's  grace  was  very  real  to 
you  then  !     Take  it  up  again,  and  you  will  find 


CHAPTER  I.   12-15  245 

tliat  in  that  God-blessed  work  your  remembrance 
is  revived,  the  effaced  impressions  have  deepened 
again,  and  you  have  the  old  inspired  vision  of 
the  glory  of  the  Lord.  Go  to  it  again,  I  say, 
and  your  soul  shall  be  restored.  In  all  these 
ways,  by  a  diligent  determination  to  give  our- 
selves time  to  receive  our  spiritual  impressions, 
and  by  cherishing  all  the  ministries  by  which 
the  impressions  can  be  preserved,  it  is  possible 
to  sanctify  our  memories  and  to  make  them 
temples  of  the  living  God. 

But    in   our  text    the    apostle    puts   himself 
forward  as  a  helpmeet  of  other  men's   remem- 
brances.    "  /  shall  be  ready  always  to  put  you  in  Verse  12 
remembrance  of  these  things.'^      It  is  a  gracious 
prerogative  that  we  can  minister  to  one  another 
in  holy  things.     It  is  possible  for  one  man  to 
rouse  another  man's  memory  to  the  recollection 
of  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  and  to  revive  his  sense 
of  the  superlative  grace  and  goodness  of  God. 
But  this  ministry  of  remembrancer  is  one  that 
requires  the  utmost  delicacy  if  its   exercise   is 
to  be  hallowed  and  fruitful.     The  phrase  in  my 
text,    "to   put   you  in   remembrance,"   literally 
signifies  to  remind  quietly,  to  mention  it  under 
one's  breath,  to  gently  suggest  it!     There  are 
two   ways   of    performing   the   function   of  re- 
membrancer.     We   can   approach    our    brother 
like  an  alarm  bell,  or  we  can  bear  upon  him 


246    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETEB 

like  a  genial  breathing.  "We  can  rouse  some 
people  quite  easily  by  drawing  up  tlie  blinds 
and  letting  in  the  light.  There  is  no  occasion 
for  the  rattle  of  artillery ;  it  is  quite  enough 
to  let  the  sunshine  in.  And  there  are  some 
men  who  seem  to  be  spiritually  slumberous  who 
do  not  require  some  angry  indictment,  but  only 
a  gentle  hint  of  spiritual  resource.  Here  is  a 
man  who  is  down ;  his  troubles  have  multiplied 
on  every  hand;  and  in  the  depth  of  the  de- 
pression he  has  forgotten  everything  but  the 
calamity  itself.  Now  here  is  an  opportunity  for 
the  Lord's  remembrancer !  But  how  unwise  it 
would  be  to  come  with  all  the  clatter  of  a  fire- 
engine,  and  the  accompaniment  of  a  clanging, 
rousing  bell.  The  only  effective  approach  would 
be  one  of  exquisite  delicacy.  We  must  approach 
the  man  as  a  nurse  would  touch  a  patient  who  is 
full  of  sores,  and  in  tones  of  the  softest  com- 
passion we  must  remind  him  that  he  is  a 
millionaire,  and  that  he  has  untold  capital  in 
the  bank  of  the  Lord.  But,  oh,  the  tact  of  it ! 
See  that  fine  touch  in  the  apostle's  ministry : 
"  I  shall  be  ready  always  to  put  you  in  remem- 
Verse  12  brance  .  .  .  though  ye  know  them.'"  How  delicate 
.  the  courtesy  !  ''I  have  nothing  new  to  tell  you, 
but  you  and  I  have  both  got  the  Lord,  haven't 
Ave  ?  "  I  say  the  delicacy  of  it ;  it  Vv^as  the  very 
inspiration   of  the   Holy  Ghost.     "It   shall   be 


CHAPTER  I.   12-15  247 

given   you  in  that   same   hour  what  ye   shall 
speak." 

And  this  ministry  of  remembrancer  is  one  that 
must  not  be  delayed.  The  man's  memory  is 
getting  numb.  His  early  spiritual  impressions 
are  being  effaced.  The  glory  of  the  Lord  is 
waning.  The  distant  heaven  is  growing  dim. 
Let  not  the  remembrancer  wait ;  let  him  set 
about  his  Christlike  work  in  the  assurance  that 
the  King's  business  requireth  haste.  ''I  think 
it  right  .  .  .  knowing  that  the  putting  off  of  my  Verges 
tabernacle  cometh  siviftlyJ^  The  remembrancer  ' 
himself  is  only  here  for  a  time:  he  has  but  a 
day  at  the  most :  let  him  be  up  and  about ! 
The  night  cometh !  But  how  beautiful  the 
apostle's  conception  of  the  coming  night !  Life 
is  a  pilgrimage  in  tents,  and  to-morrow  he  will 
pull  up  the  tent-pegs  and  depart  to  "the  city 
that  hath  foundations."  But  meanwhile  he 
must  be  active,  deepening  the  lines  in  the 
memory  of  his  fellow-disciples.  "  Yea^  I  will  give  Verse  15 
diligence  that  at  every  time  ye  may  he  able  after 
my  decease  to  call  these  things  to  remembrance^^ 
He  wiU  do  something  to  ensure  the  continuance 
of  his  ministry,  even  when  he  has  gone  home. 
"  After  my  decease  !  "  After  my  exodus  !  "When 
he  has  left  his  Egypt  and  found  his  Canaan,  the 
far-off  land  across  the  Jordan,  the  ministry  of 
remembrancer  shall  be  maintained.    I  think  that 


248    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

every  time  they  recalled  tlie  apostle,  when  he  had 
gone  home,  the  very  memory  would  act  as  a 
restorative  of  their  own  spiritual  experiences, 
and  the  depth  of  their  early  devotion  would 
be  regained. 

Let  us  reverently  and  diligently  see  to  the 
sanctification  of  our  memories.  Let  us  periodi- 
cally inspect  our  impressions.  Let  us  watch  if 
we  are  in  any  way  forgetful  of  our  spiritual 
inheritance.  Are  we  remembering  our  capital  ? 
Do  we  look  like  millionaires,  or  are  we  like 
beggars  whose  memories  have  utterly  lost  the 
significance  of  their  grand  estate  ?  Lord,  help 
us  to  remember  what  we  ought  never  to  forget ! 


THE  TEANSFIGUEED  JESUS 

2  Peter  i.  16-18 

For  we  did  not  follow  cunningly  devised  fables^  when  we 
made  known  unto  you  the  power  and  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christy  hut  we  were  eyewitnesses  of  His  majesty.  For 
He  received  from  God  the  Father  honour  and  glory,  when 
there  came  such  a  voice  to  Him  from  the  excellent  glory^ 
This  is  My  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased :  and 
this  voice  we  ourselves  heard  come  out  of  heaven,  when  we 
were  with  Him  in  the  holy  mount. 

"  We  were  eyewitnesses  of  His  majesty  " — eyewit-  verse  16 
nesses  of  the  mystic  glory  in  which  the  Lord 
was  arrayed,  and  by  which  He  was  possessed 
upon  the  Mount  of  TransjBguration.  The  passage 
has  reference  to  the  superlative  splendour  which 
shone  about  the  Lord  upon  what  we  call  the 
"  Mount  of  Transfiguration."  "  We  were  eye- 
witnesses of  His  majesty."  When  I  had  written 
that  phrase  upon  my  paper  I  looked  up  at  my 
study  walls,  and  I  caught  sight  of  Munkacsy's 
great  picture  of  "  Christ  before  Pilate,"  and  the 
contrast  between  the  mount  of  glory,  when  the 
majesty  of  the  Lord  was  witnessed  by  the 
apostles,  and  the  shame  and  the  ignominy  of 
249 


250    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

the  judgment  liall,  was  to  me  positively  startling. 
"  We  were  eyewitnesses  of  His  majesty."  I 
looked  at  tlie  picture,  and  there  was  Pilate, 
bullet-headed,  with  short-cropped  hair,  with 
lustreless  eyes,  with  effeminate  mouth,  and  a 
most  irresolute  chin — Pilate,  clothed  in  the 
garment  of  a  little  brief  authority,  disposing  of 
the  Maker  of  the  world.  And  then  the  crowd ! 
Fierce  men  with  clenched  fists  in  an  attitude  of 
threatening ;  faces  made  repulsive  by  passion ; 
Pharisees  in  long,  tasselled  garments,  yelling 
"  Crucify  Him,  crucify  Him  !  "  other  Pharisees 
bowing  before  the  Lord  in  profound  but  mock 
obeisance ;  other  Pharisees,  with  curling  lips  of 
scorn  and  contempt,  looking  on  with  sheer 
disdain ;  two  or  three  women,  with  babes  in 
their  arms,  gazing  with  the  fascination  of  terror  ; 
one  woman  fainting,  supported  by  a  man  who 
has  the  only  gentle  face  in  the  crowd ;  and 
there,  hiding  in  the  very  thick  of  the  fierce 
mob,  Judas  Iscariot,  with  a  face  all  alert  with 
fear,  and  eyes  in  which  there  is  already  visible 
the  flame  of  remorse ;  and  added  to  all  this  a 
ring  of  impassive  Roman  soldiers,  and  one  or 
two  wondering  little  children,  and  a  stray, 
terrified  dog !  And  before  all  this  mass  of 
yelling  and  blood-seeking  fanatics  there  stands 
the  Lord  !  Upon  His  exposed  breast  there  are 
the  weals  of  the  scourge.     The  plait  of  thorns 


CHAPTER  I.   16-18  251 

is  crushed  down  upon  His  brow ;  His  hands  are 
manacled  ;  they  bear  the  reed,  the  mock  symbol 
of  sovereignty ;  His  face  is  perfectly  white, 
wearied,  sorrow-stricken,  and  yet  there  is  an 
upward  look,  as  though  His  eyes  were  piercing 
the  gloom.  Yes,  I  say,  I  looked  at  that  when 
I  read  Peter's  words,  "  We  were  eyewitnesses 
of  His  majesty " ;  and  I  say  the  contrast  was 
perfectly  startling,  for  there  seemed  to  be  little 
radiance  or  glory  as  He  stood  there,  bound  and 
helpless,  the  victim  of  the  tyrannous  crowd. 
But,  in  reality,  is  the  radiance  of  the  transfigura- 
tion in  any  way  dimmed  by  the  ignominy  and 
the  tragedy  of  the  later  days  ?  Has  the  glory 
which  shone  upon  the  mount  been  in  any  way 
eclipsed  by  what  is  now  taking  place  before 
Pilate?  By  no  means.  In  Pilate's  judgment- 
hall  the  glory  and  majesty  of  the  Lord  had  not 
departed ;  and  it  came  to  me,  and  I  knew  it  as 
I  gazed  upon  the  picture  in  my  study,  that 
somehow  that  picture  of  the  tragedy  had  to 
help  me  to  explain  the  Transfiguration.  The 
Transfiguration  upon  the  Mount  finds  its  ex- 
planation in  the  Passion. 

What  preceded  the  journey  up  the  mount  ? 
What  had  taken  place  before  the  disciples  and 
the  Lord  took  their  journey  away  to  the  mount  ? 
Can  we  get  at  their  mind?  If  I  may  use  a 
somewhat    common    phrase   to-day,  what  was 


252    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

their  "  psychological  mood  "  ?  What  was  their 
mental  content  when  they  began  to  climb  the 
hill  ?  "What  had  been  the  last  emphasis  of  the 
Master's  teaching  ?  Had  they  any  fear  ?  Had 
they  any  special  hope  ?  How  had  they  begun 
to  climb  the  mount  with  Jesus  ?  What  were 
the  last  things  in  His  private  expositions  which 
probably  filled  their  minds  ?  Happily  fo  '  you 
and  for  me  the  matter  is  made  perfectly  clear. 
The  very  last  thing  we  are  told  about  our  Lord's 
converse  with  His  disciples  is  this :  a  little  while 
before,  and  for  the  first  time,  the  shadow  of  the 
Lord's  death  was  flung  upon  their  sunlit  and 
prosperous  way.  "  From  that  time  " — this  was 
only  just  before  the  climb  began — "  From  that 
time  began  Jesus  to  shew  unto  His  disciples 
how  that  He  must  go  unto  Jerusalem  and  suffer 
many  things  of  the  elders  and  chief  priests  and 
scribes,  and  be  killed."  I  want  you  to  think  of 
that  as  suddenly  entering  into  the  programme. 
It  had  never  been  whispered  before,  and  now, 
when  the  way  was  becoming  more  and  more 
sunny,  and  the  crowds  becoming  more  and  more 
loyal  and  multiplied,  when  the  day  was  just 
dawning,  and  the  Lord's  kingdom  just  appearing, 
He  begins  to  talk  about  His  own  suffering  and 
death.  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  announcement 
from  the  Master's  lips  startled  and  staggered 
and    paralysed     them=       Why,     the    teaching 


CHAPTER  I.   16-18  253 

darkened  the  whole  prospect !  "  That  shall 
never  be  unto  Thee,  Lord,"  cried  the  ardent 
and  impulsive  Peter.  "  Get  thee  behind 
Me ! "  I  think  there  is  no  preacher  who 
can  say  that  word  in  the  Master's  tones,  "  Get 
thee  behind  Me  ! "  It  was  not  said  in  savage 
severity,  but  in  the  pleadings  of  love.  He  felt 
the  allurement  of  the  disciple's  words,  "That 
shall  never  be  unto  Thee,  Lord !  "  "  Don't, 
don't.  My  beloved  friend  !  Tempt  Me  not  away 
from  the  gloom ;  thy  friendship  is  seeking  the 
victory  of  the  evil  one."  And  then  He  gathered 
them  round  about  Him  and  began  to  expound 
unto  them  the  law  of  life.  "  Whosoever  will 
take  thy  way,  Peter,  whosoever  will  save  his 
life  shall  lose  it,  and  whosoever  will  lose  his  life 
shall  find  it."  He  began  to  expound  unto  them 
the  law  of  life  through  death,  fulness  through 
sacrifice.  If  we  would  live  we  must  die ;  if  we 
would  find  ourselves  we  must  give  ourselves 
away.  He  began  to  say  unto  them  that  He 
would  suffer  and  be  killed  !  And  then  He  laid 
down  for  them  the  great  condition  of  fellow- 
ship :  "  If  any  man  would  come  after  Me,  let 
him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  and 
foUow  Me." 

Well  now,  that  is  the  mental  furniture,  that 
is  the  psychological  mood  which  possessed  the 
disciples  as  they  turned  to  climb  the  slopes  of 


254    THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

the  mount.  They  were  under  the  shadow  !  To 
them  had  just  been  made  a  suggestion  of  the 
coming  death  of  their  King.  They  had  had 
teaching  about  crosses,  and  losses,  and  sacrifice  ; 
and  yet,  through  it  all,  a  wonderful  promise 
woven  of  ultimate  victory.  We  must  go  back 
to  that  word  about  the  cross,  and  self-denial, 
and  the  law  of  life;  and  when  we  climb 
the  mount  of  transfiguration  we  must  take  it 
as  a  key  to  the  glory,  and  to  all  that  awaits 
us  there. 

"  And  then,"  we  are  told,  "  Jesus  taketh  with 

him    Peter,"    with   his   mind   filled   with    these 

things,  "and  James,"  and  his  mind  filled  with 

these    things,    "and    John."      "Jesus    taketh  V 

That  word   "taketh"  is  an  exceedingly  feeble 

and  unsuggestive  English  word.     The  word  that 

lies  behind  it  is  full  of  pregnant  significance.     It 

is  precisely  the  same  word  which,  in  the  Epistle 

to  the  Hebrews,  is  translated  "offered."     "He 

taketh  with  him."     It  is  not  an  ordinary  journey. 

It  is  the  solemn  beginning  of  a  walk  which  is 

to  end  at  an  altar,  and  that  an  altar  of  sacrifice. 

"He   taketh  with   Him   Peter,  and  James  and 

John,"  and  they  begin  the  solemn  walk  leading 

them   up   to  the  great  surrender,  the  place   of 

glorious  sacrifice.     "  He  taketh  them  into  a  high 

mountain,   apart,"  and  this  too,  in  the  evening 

time.    Let  us  pause  there  for  a  moment.     There 


CHAPTER  I.   16-18  255 

is  always  sometlimg  so  solemnising  about  the 
evening. 

Now  fades  the  glimmering  landscape  on  the  sight, 
And  all  the  air  a  solemn  stillness  holds. 

Somehow  in  the  gathering  twilight  God  seems  to 
come  very  near.  And  this  experience  receives  em- 
phasis when  it  is  evening  time  upon  the  heights, 
when  the  clouds  are  coming  back  like  tired 
vagrants  to  rest  awhile  upon  the  summits  ;  when 
there  is  nobody  near,  and  nobody  can  be  heard, 
except,  perhaps,  some  belated  shepherd,  gather- 
ing his  flock  together  for  the  night.  He  led  them 
unto  a  mountain  apart,  "  and  He  prayed."  Let 
us  get  the  scene  well  fixed  in  our  imaginations. 
The  Master  is  away  up  in  the  mountain  ;  the 
heavy  dews  are  lying  upon  the  grass:  that 
breeze  is  softly  blowing,  the  breeze  which  seems 
to  be  always  moving  upon  the  lower  slopes  of 
Hermon,  perhaps  cooled  by  the  snows  beyond. 
And  there  He  kneels,  the  Master,  the  Lord,  and 
He  prays  !  I  want  us  to  realise  that  all  prayer  is 
more  than  speech  with  God.  Prayer  is  infinitely 
more  than  pleading.  I  sometimes  wish— I  say 
it  with  the  utmost  deliberateness — I  sometimes 
wish  we  could  drop  the  word  "  plead "  quite 
out  of  our  religious  vocabulary.  We  so  fre- 
quently pray  as  though  we  had  got  an  indifferent 
and  unwilling  God  with  whom  we  have  to  plead. 


256    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETEB, 

The  cardinal  necessity  in  prayer  is  not  pleading 
but  receiving.  I  do  not  believe — I  say  it  witL 
a  full  sense  of  responsibility — I  do  not  believe 
we  have  any  more  need  to  plead  with  God  to 
bless  than  to  plead  with  the  air  outside  to  come 
into  a  building.  It  is  not  so  much  pleading  that 
is  required  as  the  making  of  an  inlet.  God  is 
willing.  Prayer  is  simply  communion ;  the 
opening  up  of  channels  of  companionship ;  the 
opening  out  of  mind,  the  opening  out  of  will, 
in  order  that  into  the  open  mind  and  will  and 
conscience  there  may  flow  the  Divine  energy 
and  the  Divine  grace.  "  Jesus  prayed,"  and  I 
know  that  when  it  is  said  "  Jesus  prayed,"  it 
means  that  He  was  absolutely  open  to  the 
infinite.  Surely  that  is  the  meaning  of  prayer. 
AVhen  a  man  prays,  if  he  prays  aright,  he  is 
simply  opening  himself  out  to  the  incoming  of 
God.  God  says:  "Behold!  I  stand  at  the  door 
and  knock ;  I  enshrine  and  surround  you  like 
the  atmosphere."  Prayer  is  conscious  receptive- 
ness  in  the  presence  of  the  Divine.  Jesus,  upon 
the  mountain  height,  in  the  evening  time  prayed, 
He  opened  Himself  to  God,  the  Infinite,  and  the 
Infinite  began  to  possess  Him. 

"And  as  He  prayed  He  was  transfigured."  I 
am  not  surprised  at  that.  Even  among  men  we 
have  seen  the  ministry  of  transfiguration,  even 
though  it  be  in  infinitely  smaller  degree.     You 


CHAPTER  I.   16-18  257 

remember  that  Moses  had  been  so  opened  out 
to  God,  and  so  possessed  by  the  Divine  Hght, 
that  when  he  came  down  from  the  mount  his 
face  shone  with  mystic  radiance.  We  are  told 
concerning  Stephen  that  he  was  so  opened  out 
to  the  Infinite  that  they  saw  his  face  as  it  had 
been  the  face  of  an  angel.  He  was  simply 
possessed  and  pervaded  by  the  Divine  power. 
And  surely  one  may  say,  as  I  can  say,  that  in 
far  humbler  life  than  that  of  Moses,  in  life  in 
which  there  has  been  little  of  what  the  world 
calls  "  culture,"  little  of  mental  furniture,  little 
of  dialectical  power,  but  in  which  there  has  been 
great  spiritual  receptiveness,  in  the  lives  of  the 
illiterate  there  has  shone  ''  a  light  that  never 
was  on  sea  or  land."  But  here  with  the  Master, 
whose  life  was  absolutely  and  uninterruptedly 
opened  out  to  the  glory  of  the  God-head,  the 
inflow  of  glory  transfigured  and  transformed 
Him,  and  in  superlative  and  supreme  degree 
^'  His  face  did  shine  as  the  sun."  The  very 
expression  of  His  countenance  was  altered.  And 
then  the  historians  go  even  further,  for  we  are 
told  that  the  glory,  the  energy,  I  scarcely  know 
how  to  describe  it — one  uses  an  almost  violent 
phrase  in  seeking  to  give  expression  to  it — the 
Divine  effluence  which  flowed  into  the  Lord  not 
only  transfigured  His  flesh,  but  in  some  mystio 
way  transfigured  even  His  outer  vesture.     "  His 


258    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

garments  became  white  as  snow."  All  of  which 
just  means  this :  that  this  man  of  Nazareth 
became  so  absolutely  filled  with  God  that  His 
very  material  vesture  was  transfigured  and 
transformed.     "  We  were  eyewitnesses  of  it." 

Now,  I  would  like  to  pause  there  a  moment, 
to  offer  an  opinion  for  which  I  cannot  quote 
Scriptural  authority.  ''  This  say  I,  not  the 
Lord."  I  would  venture  to  ask:  What  would 
have  happened  if  man  had  never  sinned?  I 
think,  just  what  happened  on  the  mount.  I  have 
a  conviction  that  this  experience  on  the  mount 
was  just  the  purposed  consummation  for  every 
life.  I  have  a  conviction  that  if  there  had 
been  no  sin  you  and  I  would  never  have  known 
an  open  grave.  We  should  have  known  a 
transformation,  a  transfiguration ;  there  would 
have  been  ,  a  consummation  in  which  the 
material  would  have  been  transfigured  and 
trai.sformed  through  the  importation  of  the 
Divine  glory.  The  corruptible  would  have  put 
on  incorruption,  but  not  through  the  ministry 
of  decay  and  death;  just  by  the  ministry  of 
an  inflow  of  Divine  glory.  I  think  that  was 
our  purposed  end,  and  our  purposed  glory.  I 
think  that  from  the  very  day  of  our  birth  our 
road  would  have  led  ever  forward  and  ever 
forward  into  light.  There  would  have  come 
a    certain    moment    in    the    temporal    life    of 


CHAPTER  I.   16-18  259 

everybody  when  the  glory  of  the  Lord  would 
have  absolutely  possessed  us,  when  the  material 
shrme  would  have  been  transfigured,  and  we 
should  have  reached  the  higher  plane  of  the 
immortal  life.  But  sin  came,  and  that  con- 
summation could  never  be.  Instead  of  on  some 
quiet  evening  just  being  transfigured  into  the 
immortal,  we  have  now  to  take  the  way  to 
the  shades,  the  way  of  the  grave.  But  Jesus 
never  sinned,  and  therefore  I  think  that  upon 
the  mount  His  life  was  naturally  consummated, 
and  He  could  have  entered  into  the  permanent 
glory  which  then  possessed  Him. 

But  now,  mark  you,  I  say  that  our  Master, 
with  a  perfectly  holy  life,  came  there  to  a 
natural  consummation,  in  which  His  life  was 
transfigured,  and  He  might,  I  think,  then 
have  passed  into  the  state  of  enduring  glory. 
But  He  divests  Himself  of  the  glory,  lays 
it  aside,  turns  His  back,  as  it  were,  upon 
the  natural  consummation,  and  takes  the  way 
to  the  grave.  He  turns  from  the  appointed 
way  of  glory,  the  glory  of  sinlessness,  and  He 
takes  the  way  appointed  of  sin.  That  is  what 
I  call  the  great  renunciation ;  and  I  sometimes 
think  that  instead  of  calling  it  the  Mount  of 
Transfiguration  we  might  call  it  the  Mount 
of  Renunciation.  He  would  not  claim  the 
natural   consummation.      He   would  not   claim 


260    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

the  transfiguration.  He  takes  up  tlie  cross 
even  upon  the  mount ;  He  takes  the  way  of 
His  brethren  in  sin ;  He  came  to  do  it ;  He 
leaves  the  glory,  and  He  comes  down  the  mount 
that  by  coming  down  the  mount  He  might 
make  for  you  and  for  me  a  new  and  living 
way  by  which  we,  too,  can  reach  the  con- 
summation. "  See,  He  lays  His  glory  by  !  "  He 
turns  His  face  towards  the  grave. 

Do  you  think  there  were  no  fears  in  His 
renunciation  ?'  I  very  frequently  wish  that  we 
did  not  so  divest  our  Lord  of  all  attributes 
common  to  the  flesh.  Do  you  think  our  Master 
was  altogether  delivered  from  the  common  fears 
of  man  in  the  prospect  of  death  ?  No  fear  of 
death,  and  that  a  death  of  such  absolute 
abandonment,  and  of  so  unspeakable  and  un- 
thinkable isolation  ?  I  think  when  He  turned 
His  back  upon  that  glory,  glory  to  which  He 
had  a  right,  and  faced  towards  the  grave,  He 
felt  a  chill,  the  chill  of  a  nameless  fear.  I  know 
that  on  another  mountain,  when  the  devil  came 
and  tempted  Him,  and  He  then  turned  His 
back  upon  the  offered  sovereignty,  "  angels 
came  and  ministered  unto  Him."  And  I  do 
not  wonder  that  now,  when,  upon  the  mount 
of  another  renunciation.  He  turns  His  back 
upon  the  glory  and  contemplates  death,  there 
appeared  unto  Him  two  other  ministers — Moses 


CHAPTEE,  I.   16-18  261 

and  Elijali :  Moses  who  died  no  one  knew  how, 
and  was  buried  no  one  knew  where  ;  and  Elijah, 
who  was  transfigured  that  he  should  not  see 
death.  And  then  we  are  told  in  just  one  phrase, 
which  although  it  does  not  satisfy,  yet  relieves 
our  Avonder,  that  they  spoke  together  of  the 
decease  that  He  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem. 
Perhaps  it  is  permitted  us  to  indulge  in  a  little 
reverent  imagination  ?  Here  is  the  Lord  turning 
His  back  upon  glory  and  facing  the  chills  of 
death,  and  there  appears  to  Him  from  the  other 
side  of  death  Moses  and  Elijah,  and  surely 
their  conversation  about  His  decease  would  be 
heartening  !  It  would  be  feeding  speech,  and 
sustaining  speech,  by  which  He  would  be  able 
all  the  more  boldly  and  all  the  more  fearlessly 
to  take  His  journey  into  twilight  and  night. 
And  so,  I  say,  our  Saviour  began  His  descent 
from  glory  to  grave.  It  is  not  the  going  up 
the  mount  that  cheers  me,  it  is  the  coming 
down !  Every  step  He  took  in  that  descent 
gives  confirmation  to  your  hope  and  to  mine. 
Our  ascent  becomes  possible  in  His  descent. 

And  as  He  turned  to  go,  and  laid  His  shining 
glory  by,  behold !  a  voice,  "  This  is  My  beloved  Verse  17 
Son.''  It  was  a  great  renunciation  on  Chrict's 
part,  but  it  was  a  great  gift  on  God's  part  and 
I  think  that  on  the  mount  of  renunciation,  when 
our  Lord  begins  His  descent,  and  the   Father 


262    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETEE 

says,  ''My  beloved  Son,"  we  can  in  all  rever- 
ence and  truth  add  the  other  great  word :  "  God 
so  loved  the  world  that  He  let  Him  lay  His 
glory  by";  ''God  so  loved  the  world  that 
He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son."  Down  the 
mount  He  comes,  on  to  Golgotha  and  the  grave ! 
Did  not  I  say  that  the  Transfiguration  finds  its 
explanation  at  the  Passion  ?  When  I  see  Him 
coming  down  the  mount,  I  can  say  with  Paul, 
"He  loved  me  and  gave  Himself  for  me."  It 
is  through  our  Lord's  renunciation  of  glory  that 
we  become  glorified.  When  I  turn  my  face  to 
the  mountain-height,  where  the  Apostle  Peter 
was  an  eyewitness  of  the  majesty  of  God,  and 
when  I  think  that  that  glory  was  the  purposed 
consummation  for  every  life,  that  I,  if  I  had 
never  sinned,  might  have  been  similarly  trans- 
figured into  the  immortal  state,  I  wonder  how 
the  blest  estate  can  be  regained.  And  here  is 
the  answer : 

There  is  a  way  for  man  to  rise 

To  that  sublime  abode  : 
An  offering  and  a  sacrifice, 
A  Holy  Spirit's  energies, 

An  advocate  with  God. 

These,  these  prepare  us  for  the  sight 

Of  holiness  above  ; 
The  sons  of  ignorance  and  night 
May  dwell  in  the  eternal  Light 

Through  the  eternal  Love! 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  PEOPHET 

2  Peter  i.  19-21 

Afid  we  have  the  word  of  jprophecy  made  more  sure; 
whereunto  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed^  as  nnto  a  lamp 
shining  in  a  squalid  place^  until  the  day  datvn,  and  the 
day-star  arise  in  your  hearts  :  hnoiving  this  first^  that  no 
prophecy  of  Scripture  is  of  private  interpretation.  For  no 
prophecy  ever  came  hy  the  will  of  man:  hut  men  spake 
from  God,  being  moved  hy  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  prophet,  his  prophecy,  how  to  understand 
it !  This  passage  is  about  as  compact  and  con- 
centrated as  a  crystal.  It  is  compressed  and 
solidified  thinking,  every  sentence  being  as 
essential  and  as  unwasteful  as  a  passage  of 
Browning.  Just  cast  a  glance  at  the  crowded 
contents.  I  say  it  enshrines  a  description  of  the 
true  prophet,  it  unveils  the  nature  and  signifi- 
cance of  true  prophecy,  and  it  defines  the  only 
methods  by  which  the  secrets  of  prophecy  can 
be  disentangled  and  understood.  Here  is  the 
vignette  of  the  prophet :  "  iVo  prophecy  ever  came  Verse  21 
by  the  will  of  man  :  but  m.en  spake  from  Godj  being 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  J  ^  And  here  is  the  out- 
line, the  primary  feature  of  prophetic  ministry : 

263 


264    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETEE 

Verse  19  ''  A  lamp  shining  in  a  squalid  place,  until  the  day 
dawn,  and  the  day-star  arise  in  your  hearts.'^ 
And  here  is  the  clue  to  sound  and  effective 
Vers^es  interpretation  of  prophecy:  '' No  prophecy  .  .  . 
is  of  private  interpretation,  for  .  .  ,  men  spake 
from  God,''  These  great  guiding  lines  have  not 
become  confused  by  the  march  of  time  ;  they  are 
as  true  and  significant  to-day  as  on  the  day 
when  they  were  first  penned,  and  if  we  would 
know  a  modern  prophet  when  he  appears,  and 
be  able  to  understand  his  message  when  we 
hear  it,  we  shall  do  well  to  pay  close  and 
reverent  heed  to  the  teaching  of  this  glorious 
and  inspired  companion  of  our  Lord. 

Well,  now,  I  think  it  is  quite  as  well  at  once, 
when  we  are  speaking  about  prophets  and 
prophecy,  that  we  detach  ourselves  almost 
entirely  from  the  modern  and  popular  interpre- 
tation of  the  word.  Prophecy  is  not  synonymous 
with  prediction.  When  we  use  the  sentence 
which  has  almost  become  a  proverbial  phrase 
in  our  ordinary  speech  and  say,  "  I  am  neither 
a  prophet  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet,"  we  are 
employing  the  words  almost  entirely  in  the 
sense  of  forecast,  in  the  meaning  of  prevision, 
with  the  significance  of  unbosoming  the  secrets 
of  the  morrow.  The  element  of  prevision  and 
of  forecast  is  not  entirely  absent  from  the  true 
equipment   of  the  prophet,   but  it  is  not  the 


CHAPTER  I.    19-21  2G5 

primary  element.  I  do  not  think  any  one  can 
declare  principles  without  forecasting  issues ; 
but  the  burden  of  a  true  prophet  is  not  the  fore- 
casting of  an  event,  but  the  proclamation  of  a 
principle.  True  prophecy  is  declaration,  not 
anticipation ;  it  is  vision,  not  prevision.  A 
prophet  is  a  man  who  foretells,  but  who  primarily 
forthtells,  tells  forth  a  message  which  God  has 
given  to  him.  The  prophet  is  a  forthteller  of 
great  truths,  of  dominant  principles ;  he  is  a  re- 
vealer  of  the  great  broad  highways  along  which 
all  the  affairs  of  men  move  to  inevitable  destiny. 
I  want,  then,  at  once  to  put  that  primary  meaning 
which  we  use  in  our  modern  interpretation  of 
the  word  on  one  side,  and  as  far  as  possible  to 
leave  aside  this  secondary  element  of  prevision. 
With  this  introductory  assumption,  look  at  the 
picture  of  the  prophet  himself.  ^^  No  prophecy  Yeise  2\ 
ever  came  by  the  ivill  of  manJ''  Some  things  may 
come  by  human  volition,  but  never  prophecy. 
No  man  can  will  himself  into  the  prophetic 
office.  If  he  is  not  born  there,  his  presence  is  an 
impertinent  usurpation.  The  prophet  is  not  the 
product  of  self-will,  not  the  product  of  self- 
initiative.  He  is  not  the  matured  flower  of 
human  culture.  The  prophet's  own  will  has  little 
or  no  part  in  his  mission  or  vocation.  He  is 
not  a  cause,  he  is  an  effect.  He  is  not  the  wind, 
he  is  an  instrument,     He  is  not  the  sun,  he  is 


266    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

a   reflector.     The   prophet   is   born,   not   made 
No  prophecy  and  no  prophet  ever  came  by  the 
will   of   man.     The    prophet's   role   is   not    the 
perquisite  of  resolute  purpose,   or  the  prize  of 
any  strenuous  ambition.     He  does  not  come  by 
culture,   but   by   nature.     He   is   not   made   by 
struggle,   he   comes   by   birth.     There   is  about 
the   prophet   an   element  which   can   never   be 
manufactured.      I    think    we   know   this   deep, 
unnatural,    unearthly,     uncreated     element    in 
other  spheres  whenever  a  prophet  appears.     We 
can  make  rhymesters;  we  can  easily  manufac- 
ture them  by  the  score.     You  can  lay  down  a 
number  of  precise  little  rules  for  the  making  of 
a  versifier ;  you  can  tell  him  how  to  measure 
out  his  little  lines,  how  to  regulate  his  metre, 
how  to    appoint    his    jingle.      You   can   make 
a  rhymester,  but  no  poetry  ever  came  by  the 
will  of  man.    When  you  are  reading  Wordsworth, 
you  can  instinctively  feel  when  the   manufac- 
ture  begins,    you    can    instinctively   feel   when 
the  will  of  the   poet   begins  to  work,  and  you 
can   instinctively   feel   when   the    manufacture 
ceases   and  something   mysterious  arrives,   and 
the     poet     begins     to     sing.     You     can    make 
politicians,   make  them  by  the  crowd.     Give  a 
man  a  little  programme,  a  glib  tongue,  a  strong 
tincture  of  party  loyalty,  and   there  you   are  ! 
But  statesmanship  never  came  by  the  will   of 


CHAPTEE  I.   19-21  267 

man.  "We  know  the  distinction  between  the 
political  party-hack  in  all  our  political  parties, 
and  the  man  who  tells  forth  the  fundamentals, 
who  speaks  not  in  the  mere  party  tone,  but 
in  the  abiding  speech  of  the  ages.  "We  can 
manufacture  a  politician  ;  a  statesman  is  beyond 
us.  We  can  manufacture  pianolas,  we  can 
make  admirable  imitations  of  the  human  fingers ; 
we  can  endow  the  hammers  with  something  of 
the  living  touch  of  the  finger-tips,  we  can  create 
a  most  elaborate  and  exquisite  mechanism;  but 
when  we  have  finished  our  work  we  experience 
some  nameless  chill  in  the  absence  of  mysterious 
life.  No  musician  ever  came  by  the  will  of 
man.  We  have  to  await  his  coming,  and  when 
he  comes  we  know  him  by  the  unearthliness  of 
his  gifts,  and  the  strains  that  breathe  of  another 
and  a  mysterious  clime.  And  so  I  say  we  are 
conscious  of  this  unmistakable  element  when- 
ever the  prophet  appears,  in  whatsoever  guise 
he  comes.  "  Deep  calleth  unto  deep  "  ;  there  is 
about  him  a  suggestion  of  the  infinite,  and  we 
cannot  explain  him.  We  may  not  like  him.  It 
is  quite  probable  we  shall  set  about  and  crucify 
him.  But  there  is  in  the  prophet  an  element 
of  mysteriousness  which,  though  he  be  of  our 
flesh  and  blood,  links  him  with  beings  of 
quite  another  plane.  We  may  not  be  able 
to  define  his  distinction,  but  we   feel   it ;   and 


268    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

in  these  high  matters  of  refined  sentiment, 
feeling  is  perhaps  our  safest  guide.  "Who 
does  not  feel  the  difference  between  Cecil 
Ehodes  and  Garibaldi?  It  is  the  unearthly 
element  to  which  we  pay  our  homage  and  our 
regard.  Who  does  not  feel  the  difference 
between  John  Bright  and  Benjamin  Disraeli  ? 
What  is  it  ?  It  is  the  element  that  never  came 
by  the  will  of  man.  It  is  the  difference  between 
a  spring  and  a  cistern;  it  is  the  difference 
between  glitter  and  glow ;  it  is  a  difference 
unspeakable,  made  by  the  profound  and  mystic 
forthtelling  from  the  Infinite.  It  is  even  so  in 
every  prophet,  no  matter  what  may  be  the 
garb  he  wears.  It  is  so  in  Eudyard  Kipling. 
I  think  his  poetry  is  often  feverish ;  to  me,  at 
any  rate,  it  is  often  declamatory,  sometimes 
inflammatory,  often  thoughtless.  But  again 
and  again  on  the  heedless  page  a  wind  springs 
up,  and  everything  quickens,  and  the  man  is 
clothed  in  nameless  inspiration,  and  the  mortal 
puts  on  immortality.  I  say  we  feel  it.  "  The 
wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest 
the  sound  thereof,"  and  it  makes  one  man  a 
statesman  and  leaves  another  a  politician;  it 
makes  one  man  a  poet,  and  leaves  another  a 
rhymester;  it  makes  one  man  a  prophet,  and 
leaves  another  a  mere  speaker.  "  The  wind 
bloweth    where    it    listeth,    and    thou    hearest 


CHAPTER  I.  19-21  269 

the  sound  thereof,"  but  thou  canst  not  tell 
whence  it  cometh,  nor  whither  it  goeth."  "  No 
prophet  ever  came  by  the  will  of  man."  We 
cannot  make  them.  What  then?  What  sug- 
gestion does  the  apostle  give  us  in  my  text  as 
to  how  this  indefinable  and  mysterious  element 
can  be  explained?  Here  is  the  apostolic  ex- 
planation :  "  Men  spake  from  God,  being  moved  Verse  21 
by  the  Holy  GhosV  1  like  that  word  "moved." 
It  is  one  of  the  picturesque  words  of  the  New 
Testament  Scriptures.  It  is  precisely  the  same 
word  which  is  translated  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  "  drive."  You  remember  in  that 
graphic  chapter  which  describes  the  shipwreck 
of  the  apostle,  there  comes  this  very  suggestive 
phrase :  "  And  when  the  ship  was  caught  .  .  , 
we  let  her  drivel  That  is  precisely  the  word 
which  is  here  translated  "  moved."  "  Men  spake 
from  God,  being  moved,^^  driven  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  Paul's  ship  was  driven  by  the  wind. 
That  is  the  apostolic  explanation  of  the  prophet. 
"  Suddenly  there  came  a  rushing  mighty  wind," 
and  they  spake !  It  was  so  with  Moses,  it  was 
so  with  Elijah  and  Micah  and  Amos.  They 
were  all  wind-swept  children  of  God,  driven 
by  mysterious  currents  which  they  could  never 
explain.  That  is  why  prophets  can  never 
understand  the  genesis  of  their  own  mission 
and  their    own    message — they   seem  to  have 


270    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

had  notlimg  to  do  with  it :  Why  Thackeray, 
who  was  sometimes  endowed  with  the  prophetic 
calling,  speaking  about  his  highest  work,  those 
parts  of  his  work  which  bore  the  signs  of 
inspiration,  uses  these  very  strange  words,  "  I 
have  no  idea  where  it  all  comes  from;  I  am 
often  astounded  myself  to  read  it  after  I  have 
got  it  down  on  the  paper."  I  remember  a 
great  preacher  telling  me  that  he  often  felt  just 
in  that  way  a"|30ut  some  of  his  sermons.  When 
he  had  preached  them,  or  when  he  had  prepared 
them,  he  read  them  over  again  with  curious 
and  devouring  interest,  and  could  not  think 
they  were  his  own.  He  had  been  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  he  watched  with  great 
inquisitiveness  the  discoveries  revealed  to  him. 
Verse  21  "  ^^^en  spake  from  God  J'  And  that  word  "  from'' ! 
It  is  in  these  prepositions  that  we  so  lack  in 
trying  to  carry  out  the  vividness  of  the  original. 
It  means  right  out  of  God,  right  out  of  the  very 
depths  of  the  Deity  !  "  Men  spake  out  of  God!" 
Their  speech  was  born  in  God,  God-driven, 
God-controlled.  That  is  so  ever  and  every- 
where, from  the  prophet  of  the  earliest  times 
to  the  last  prophet  who  speaks  to  the  listening 
ears  of  our  own  day.  "  The  voice  of  the  great 
Eternal  speaks  in  their  mighty  tone."  "  No 
proj)hecy  ever  came  by  the  will  of  man  :  but  men 
spake  from  God,  being  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 


CHAPTER  I.   19-21  271 

So  mucli  for  tlie  prophet.  Now  I  turn  from 
the  prophet  to  the  prophecy  ;  and  what,  accord- 
iijg  to  my  text,  is  the  abiding  characteristic  of 
all  true  prophecy  ?  Here  is  the  guiding  word : 
It  is  "as  a  lamp  shining  in  a  squalid  place,  Verse  19 
until  the  day  daiun,  and  the  day-star  arise  in 
your  hearts^  "As  a  lamp!"  Then  prophecy 
is  something  luminous,  and  therefore  something 
illuminating.  "A  lamp  shining  in  a  squalid 
place."  True  prophecy  always  exposes  the 
squalor  of  its  time.  "When  the  prophet  speaks, 
something  shady  stands  revealed,  something 
iniquitous  stands  exposed.  The  prophet  always 
brings  with  him  a  light  brighter  than  the 
twilight  of  accepted  compromise.  He  comes 
with  something  of  the  light  eternal ;  he  is  a 
lamp,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  shining  prophet 
the  sins  of  his  time  come  into  visibility,  and 
are  named  and  declared.  This  is  what  we 
should  expect.  If  we  turn  to  the  book  of  the 
psalmist  we  find  these  expressive  words :  "  Our 
secret  sins  in  the  light  of  Thy  countenance." 
We  come  into  the  light  of  the  Lord's  presence, 
and  our  secret  sins  leap  into  view,  just  as  motes 
are  seen  in  the  sunbeam,  and  just  as  faded 
patches  and  rents  are  exposed  in  the  broad 
light  of  the  fuller  day.  And  if  a  man  comes 
from  God,  bearing  with  him  something  of  this 
same  eternal  light,  if  he  comes  as  a  lamp,  we 


272    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER, 

must  expect  tliat  the  squalor  and  the  deformity 
of  his  day  will  become  visible  before  him. 
That  is  ever  true,  true  of  the  far-off  prophet 
Elijah.  If  you  want  to  see  the  sin  and  the 
perversity  and  the  squalor  of  that  far-off  day, 
stand  near  the  man  who  has  got  the  lamp.  It 
is  the  same  with  the  prophet  Amos.  If  you 
want  to  see  the  rottenness  of  the  gilded  cere- 
monial religion  of  his  day,  and  the  injustices, 
and  the  perverted  relationships  of  man  to  man, 
stand  near  the  herdsman  who  has  got  the  lamp. 
It  is  true  of  John  the  Baptist.  If  you  want 
to  see  the  sin  of  the  times  in  which  our  Lord 
was  born,  stand  near  the  man  who  has  got  the 
lamp.  If  you  stand  near  Savonarola,  you  see 
the  iniquities  of  Florence.  If  you  stand  near 
Thomas  Carlyle,  you  behold  the  hollow  shams 
and  conventions  of  our  own  day.  If  you  stand 
near  General  Booth,  you  will  see  the  miseries 
and  the  deformities  and  the  crookednesses  of 
the  submerged  tenth.  Until  General  Booth 
appeared  we  had  never  really  seen  them. 
*'  Darkest  England  and  the  way  out."  "  The 
people  who  sat  in  darkness  saw  a  great  light." 
That  is  ever  characteristic  of  prophecy.  It 
reveals  the  squalor  in  the  squalid  place,  it 
unveils  it  for  the  purpose  of  removing  it.  It 
reveals  the  darkness  and  corruption  of  the  city 
by   bringing   into   view  a  vision    of    the   New 


CHAPTER  I.   19-21  273 

Jerusalem,  the  city  come  down  out  of  heaven 
from  God.  The  first  characteristic  of  true 
prophecy  is  that  it  is  luminous  and  illuminating, 
exposing  where  exposure  is  needed.  Mark  the 
progress  and  sequence  of  my  text.  "A  lamp 
shining  in  a  squalid  place,  until  the  day  daivn  !  "  Verse  15 
Prophecy  is  not  only  luminous,  it  is  progressive. 
Do  you  mark  the  increasing  expansion  of  the 
terms  ?  I  think  it  is  very  beautiful  and  sug- 
gestive to  notice  it:  "A  lamp,"  "a  day-star!" 
The  dawning!  and  on  to  perfect  noon!  The 
prophet  of  to-day  speaks  a  larger  word  than 
the  prophet  of  the  earliest  time.  Savonarola 
was  a  child  of  the  dawning ;  Amos  was  a  child 
of  the  lamp.  It  is  always  necessary  to  remem- 
ber this.  "When  I  remember  this,  it  clears  away 
a  thousand  difficulties  from  the  sacred  page. 
When  I  go  back  to  Elijah,  or  to  Amos,  or  to 
Micah,  I  must  not  expect  the  large  and  com- 
prehensive light  of  the  dawn.  I  must  expect 
lamplight,  partial  light,  local  light ;  but  a  lamp 
always  shining  above  the  current  standard  of 
the  time.  When  you  go  back  to  Elijah  you  go 
from  dawn  to  lamps,  and  the  principle  must 
guide  you  in  your  apprehension  and  apprecia- 
tion of  the  prophet's  teaching.  I  do  not  know 
that  the  electric  light  need  speak  altogether 
in  such  contemptuous  terms  of  the  horn  lamp, 
and  I  do  not  know  why  the  horn  lamp  should 


274    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

so  fiercely  and  vehemently  disparage  the  rush. 
The  crucial  criterion  is  this:  Not  whether 
Elijah  equals  Paul,  and  not  whether  Amos 
equals  Thomas  Carlyle.  The  crucial  criterion 
is  this:  When  Elijah  held  his  lamp,  what 
about  the  squalor  ?  Was  he  above  the  current 
standard?  Did  he  shine  above  the  accepted 
compromise  ?  Did  he  bring  in  the  radiance  of 
the  ideal  ?  When  I  go  back  to  Amos  I  do  not 
expect  to  see  dawnlight,  but  lamplight.  I  find 
in  Hosea,  in  Amos,  many  things  I  do  not  like ; 
but  I  am  a  child  of  a  richer  privilege,  a  child 
of  a  larger  day.  The  question  is  this:  Had 
they  a  lamp  which  exposed  the  dirt?  Did 
they  bring  out  the  squalor,  and  did  they  make 
revelations  of  which  even  we,  in  our  own  day, 
do  well  to  tuke  heed?  The  light  has  been 
progressive:  a  lamp  for  Elijah,  a  day-star  for 
another  man,  the  broader  light  of  the  dawning 
for  another.  And  still  the  light  of  prophecy  is 
progressive.  We,  too,  are  only  yet  in  the  early 
dawning ;  we  are  far  away  yet  from  the  perfect 
noon.  The  prophet  of  to-day  and  to-morrow 
has  still  richer  and  deeper  things  to  tell  us  from 
God.  He  need  not  be  a  repetition  of  yester- 
day, he  need  not  be  a  repeater  of  old  saws 
and  counsels,  carrying  precisely  the  same  lamp. 
Still,  to-day  as  ever,  our  prophet  speaks  from 
God,    and    in    the     utterance    of    these    more 


CHAPTER  I.   19-21  275 

privileged  times  we  ought  to  behold  a  bright- 
ness far  more  radiant  than  the  current  standard, 
far  more  exacting  in  its  demands— an  inspira- 
tion leading  us  nearer  to  that  glorious  consum- 
mation when  we  shall  know  even  as  we  are 
known. 

And  lastly,  how  shall  we  receive  a  prophet 
and  understand  his  message  when  he  comes  ? 
Here  is  the  guiding  word :  ^^  No  prophecy  of  verse  2C 
Scripture  is  of  private  interpretation^^  We  are 
not  at  liberty  to  take  our  own  roads  to  the 
interpretation.  Private  ways  of  that  sort  will 
never  lead  to  the  truth.  There  is  a  prescribed 
highway  by  which  the  deep  secrets  of  prophets 
can  be  gained.  A  just  interpretation  of  pro- 
phecy will  always  depend  upon  the  spirit  in 
which  we  approach  it.  Thomas  a  Kempis 
has  a  very  revealing  word  in,  I  believe,  the 
very  first  chapter  of  that  wonderfully  helpful 
book  The  Imitation  of  Christ.     "  By  what  spirit  * 

any  scripture  was  made,  by  that  same  spirit 
must  it  be  interpreted."  If  you  want  to  inter- 
pret a  prophecy  aright  you  must  get  into  the 
spirit  in  which  it  was  born.  You  cannot  take 
a  private  way.  Only  in  that  way,  the  way  in 
which  it  had  its  birth,  can  you  get  its  secret 
meaning.  I  think  that  is  true  of  literature  in 
general.  I  was  reading  only  the  other  day 
a  book    by   one   of   the   ablest  literary  critics 


276    THE  SECOND   EPISTLE    OP  PETER 

of  the  last  fifty  years,  and  he  said  he  never 
understood  the  drive,  and  spring,  and  leap  of 
Sir  "Walter  Scott's  Marmion  until  he  declaimed 
it  aloud  on  a  galloping  horse.  But  why  did 
the  secret  of  Marraion  come  out  when  it  was 
declaimed  on  the  back  of  a  galloping  horse  ? 
Because  it  was  composed  on  the  back  of  a  gallop- 
ing horse.  And  if  you  will  turn  to  Marmion  with 
this  conception  of  the  leap,  and  spring,  and  gallop 
in  your  mind  and  heart,  you  will  get  the  very 
go  and  drive  and  rhythm  of  the  poem.  That 
will  suffice  for  our  purpose.  We  are  to  re- 
arrange the  conditions  under  which  poetry  was 
born  if  we  are  to  discern  and  interpret  its 
meaning.  And  so  it  is  with  all  prophecy  and 
all  poetry,  and  all  music.  What  is  the  use 
of  bringing  a  commercial  instinct  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  Wordsworth  ?  What  could  you 
do  with  it  ?  If  you  want  to  understand 
Wordsworth,  you  must  become  identified  with 
the  man,  you  must  become  possessed  by  the 
Wordsworthian  mood.  How,  then,  shall  I  find 
the  secret  of  Isaiah,  of  Paul,  of  Savonarola,  or 
of  Luther  ?  Not  by  any  private  interpretation, 
but  by  that  same  spirit  in  which  their  message 
and  prophecy  were  born.  Is  not  this  the  word 
of  the  Master  ?  "  He  that  receiveth  a  prophet 
in  the  spirit  of  a  prophet  shall  receive  a  pro- 
phet's reward.^^     He  that  receiveth  Wordsworth 


CHAPTER  I.   19-21  277 

in  the  spirit  of  "Wordsworth,  will  enter  into 
Wordsworth's  work.  He  that  receiveth  Paul 
in  the  spirit  of  Paul  will  walk  in  the  highways 
and  byways  of  Paul's  inheritance.  It  is  no  use 
my  going  to  Paul  or  to  Isaiah  with  mere  imple- 
ments of  criticism,  however  delicate  or  however 
refined  they  may  be  I  shall  fail  to  discover 
the  secrets  of  his  intimacy;  I  shall  be  locked 
out  from  his  innermost  fellowship.  We  must 
come  to  these  men  with  reverence,  with 
humility,  with  sincerity  of  purpose,  with  that 
absolute  frankness  which  offers  a  sensitive  sur- 
face to  all  good  things.  To  sum  it  all  up,  the 
Holy  Spirit  must  interpret  what  the  Holy  Spirit 
first  inspired,  and  it  would  be  far  better  to 
have  no  critical  apparatus  at  all,  and  to  know 
nothing  about  scholarship  and  nothing  about 
learning,  and  to  come  to  the  sacred  page  with 
the  shoes  from  off  the  feet,  than  to  go  burdened 
with  all  manner  of  learning  and  scholarship, 
and  tramp  loudly  and  flippantly  in  the  most 
sacred  place.  You  cannot  get  into  secrets  by 
private  and  heedless  ways  of  that  kind.  It 
will  have  to  be  done  in  the  broad  highway  of 
God's  Holy  Spirit.  We  need  the  Holy  Spirit. 
And  what  we  need  we  can  get.  And  if  ye, 
then,  beiiog  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts 
unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your 
Father   give    the    holy,   interpreting    Spirit   to 


278    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

them  that  ask  it  ?  And  so  you  see  we  can  all 
be  interpreters,  and,  blessed  be  God,  we  can 
all  be  prophets  too  !  For  if  we  are  all  filled 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  there  will  come  into  our 
message  the  prophetic  significance,  into  our 
very  singing  the  prophetic  fervour,  into  our 
ordinary  intercourse  and  converse  spiritual 
energy  and  pith.  The  Holy  Spirit  will  speak 
through  me. 

Oh,  teach  me,  Lord,  that  I  may  teach 

The  precious  things  Thou  dost  impart ; 
And  wing  my  words  that  they  may  reach 

The  hidden  depths  of  many  a  heart. 
Oh,  fill  me  with  Thy  fulness,  Lord, 

Until  my  very  heart  o'erfiow 
With  kindling  thought  and  glowing  word 

Thy  love  to  tell,  Thy  praise  to  show. 


DESTEUCTIVE  HERESIES 

2  Peter  ii.  1 

But  there  arose  false  prophets  also  among  the  people^  as 
among  you  also  there  shall  he  false  teachers^  who  shall 
privily  bring  in  destructive  heresies,  denying  even  the  Master 
that  bought  them^  bringing  upon  themselves  swift  destruction. 

This  is  a  dark  and  appalling  chapter.  There  is 
nothing  quite  like  it  elsewhere  in  the  entire 
book.  The  misery  and  desolation  of  it  are 
unrelieved.  It  is  so  like  some  wide  and 
soddened  moor,  in  a  night  of  cold  and  drizzling 
rain,  made  lurid  now  and  again  by  lightning- 
flash  and  weird  with  the  growl  of  rolling 
thunder.  Everywhere  is  the  black  and 
treacherous  bog.  The  moral  pollution  is  over- 
whelming. I  confess  that  I  have  stood  before 
it  for  months,  in  the  hope  of  seeing  my  way 
across,  and  even  now  I  am  by  no  means  con- 
fident of  a  sure-footed  exposition.  The  gutter 
conditions  are  ubiquitous.  The  descriptive 
language  is  intense,  violent,  terrific.  There  is 
no  softening  of  the  shade  from  end  to  end.  It 
begins     in    the    denunciation     of     "  lascivious 

279 


280    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

doings " ;  it  continues  through  "  pits  of  dark- 
ness," "lawless  deeds,"  "lust  of  defilement," 
"  spots  and  blemishes,"  "  children  of  cursing  "  ; 
and  it  ends  in  the  gruesome  figure  of  "  the  dog 
turning  to  his  own  vomit  and  the  sow  that  had 
washed  to  wallowing  in  the  mire."  It  is  an 
awful  chapter,  borrowing  its  symbolism  from 
*'  springs  without  water,"  and  from  "  mists 
driven  by  a  storm,"  and  recalling  the  ashes  of 
"  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  "  to  enforce  the  urgency 
and  terror  of  its  judgment. 

Is  there  any  road  across  this  dark  and 
swampy  moor?  Has  the  bog  a  secret?  To 
drop  my  figure,  has  this  wide-spreading  pollu- 
tion an  explanation  ?  Amid  all  the  cold  mystery 
and  darkness  of  the  chapter,  one  thing  becomes 
increasingly  clear  as  we  gaze  upon  it,  that  the 
depraved  life  is  the  creation  of  perverse 
thought,  that  in  "  destructive  heresies "  is  to  be 
found  the  explanation  of  this  immoral  conduct. 
I  say  this  is  one  of  the  clear  and  primary 
emphases  of  the  apostle's  teaching.  A  man's 
thought  determines  the  moral  climate  of  his  life, 
and  will  settle  the  question  whether  his  conduct 
is  to  be  poisonous  marsh  or  fertile  meadow, 
fragrant  garden  or  barren  sand.  The  pose  of 
the  mind  determines  the  dispositions,  and  will 
settle  whether  a  man  shall  soar  with  angels  in 
the  heavenlies  or  wallow  with  the  sow  in  the 


CHAPTER  II.   1  281 

mire.  "What  we  think  about  the  things  that 
are  greatest  will  determine  how  we  do  the 
things  that  are  least.  "What  are  your  primary 
thoughts  about  God?  The  prints  of  those 
thoughts  will  be  found  in  your  courtesies,  in 
your  intercourse,  in  the  common  relationships 
of  life,  in  the  government  of  commerce,  in  the 
control  of  the  body,  and  in  all  the  affairs  of 
home  and  market  and  field.  All  the  corruption 
of  this  chapter  is  traced  up  to  unworthy  con- 
ceptions of  Christ,  to  the  partial,  if  not  entire, 
dethronement  of  "  the  Lord  of  life  and  glory." 
The  immorality  has  its  explanation  in  "de- 
structive heresy." 

"  What  think  ye  of  Christ  ?  "  In  what  was 
their  thought  defective  ?  What  was  the  essence 
of  the  heresy  ?  The  secret  is  here,  they  had  no 
adequate  sense  of  His  holiness.  All  true  and 
efficient  thinking  about  God  begins  in  the  con- 
ception of  His  holiness.  If  you  begin  with  His 
love,  you  deoxj^genate  the  very  affection  you 
proclaim.  If  you  begin  with  His  mercy,  you 
deprive  it  of  the  very  salt  which  makes  it  a 
m*inister  of  healing  and  defence.  If  you  begin 
with  His  condescension,  it  is  a  condescension 
emasculated,  because  you  have  not  gazed  upon 
His  loft}^  and  sublime  abode.  You  cannot  get  a 
glimpse  of  the  unspeakable  humility  of  Calvary 
until  your  eyes  are  filled  with  the  glory  of  the 


282    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

great  white   throne.     If  you  would   know  the 
depth  you   must  begin  with  the  height!     Our 
thinking  concerning  the  Lord  must  not  take  its 
rise  in  His  compassions  or  His  love.     We  must 
begin  with  the  pure  white  ray.     We  must  begin 
with  the  great  white  throne  !     When  the  man 
Isaiah  was  refashioned  for   the   prophetic   life, 
it  was  not  some  softened  glimpse  of  a  wistful 
family  circle  in  glory  which  absorbed  his  gaze. 
It  was  the  vision  of  a  throne,  "  high  and  lifted 
up."     And  those  who  stood  about   the   throne 
were  not  moving  in  light  and  familiar  liberty. 
*'  Each  one  had  six  wings  ;  with  twain  he  covered 
his  face,   and  with  twain  he  covered  his  feet." 
How  solemn,  and  how  reverent,  and  how  wor- 
shipful!     And  the  voices  which  he  heard  were 
not   the    jaunty   songs   and   liltings   which   are 
sung   at   the   fireside.      "And    one    cried   unto 
another,  and  said,  Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord 
of  hosts."     It  was  in  circumstances  like   these, 
and  upon  heights  like  these,  that  the  prophet's 
thinking  began !     Do  not  think  that  grave  and 
venerable   experiences   of  this   kind   make   life 
severe   and  hard   and   rob   it   of   its  juice  and 
freedom.      There  is  no  man  who  has  more  to 
say  about  the  throne  and  the  awful  splendours 
that  gather  about  it,  no  man  who  tells  us  more 
about  the  thunders  and  lightnings  that  proceed 
out  of  it,  than  just  the  apostle  who  has  given 


CHAPTER  II.  1  283 

us  the  most  exquisitely  tender  letter  in  the  New 
Testament  Scriptures.  John  Calvin  is  a  name 
that  has  become  almost  synonymous  with  hard- 
ness, unbendableness,  severity,  with  high  and 
austere  contemplation,  but  you  do  the  man  a 
grave  injustice  and  you  miss  the  interpretative 
secret  of  his  life  if  you  ignore  or  overlook  the 
wells  of  most  delicate  compassion  in  which  his 
life  and  writings  abound.  Our  softest  water  is 
the  water  that  flows  over  granitic  beds.  If  you 
would  know  what  it  made  of  Isaiah,  read  through 
his  message  and  examine  his  life.  The  rivers  of 
tenderness  and  compassion  which  flow  in  this 
book  are  not  anywhere  to  be  surpassed  except  by 
"  the  river  of  water  of  life  "  which  "  flows  from 
the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb."  When 
you  have  read  the  sixth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  when 
you  have  tremblingly  gazed  upon  the  throne, 
*'  high  and  lifted  up,"  when  you  have  looked 
upon  the  veiled  and  stooping  seraphim,  and 
when  you  have  listened  to  the  solemn  sound 
of  holy  voices  "  chanting  by  the  crystal  sea," 
then  turn  to  the  fortieth  chapter,  and  hear  the 
sound  of  running  waters,  the  rivers  of  com- 
passion—" Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye  my  people, 
saith  the  Lord.  Speak  ye  comfortably  to 
Jerusalem,  and  cry  unto  her  that  her  warfare 
is  accomplished,  that  her  iniquity  is  pardoned. 
,  .  ,  He  shall  feed  His  flock  like  a  shepherd ! " 


284    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

The   soft  compassion   of    the   fortieth    chapter 
finds  its   explanation   in  the   solemn   severities 
of  the  sixth.     I  stood  by  a  Swiss  chalet,  on  the 
lower  slopes  of  a  lovely  vale,  and  by  the  house 
there  flowed  a  gladsome  river,  full  and  forceful, 
laughing   and   dancing   in   its   liberty,   and   in- 
stinctively I  prayed  that  my  life  might  be  as 
the  river,  full  of  power  and  full  of  song,  clearing 
obstacles  with  a  nimble  leap,  and  hastening  on 
to  the  great  and  eternal  sea.     And  to  my  voice- 
less prayer  there  came  reply,  "  Follow  up  the 
stream  to  its  birth !  "    And  I  tracked  the  buoyant 
river,  and  I  reached  the  snow-line,  and  I  found 
that  in  the  spreading  wastes  of  virgin-snow  the 
singing  minister  had  its  birth.    And  then  I  knew 
that  full  and  forceful  Christian  lives  must  have 
their   source   in   sovereign   holiness,   that    only 
above    the    snow-line,    near    the    great    white 
throne,    could    they    find    an    adequate    birth. 
*'Hast  thou  forsaken  the  snows  of  Lebanon?'* 
That  is  the  "  destructive  heresy,"  to  begin  one's 
thinking  and  one's  doing   otherwhere   than   in 
the  holiness  of  God.     To  begin  elsewhere  is  to 
be  sure  of  impoverishment,  and  to  have  a  life- 
river  which  will    lose    itself    in    unwholesome 
swamp  and  bog,  and  become  the  parent  of  moral 
corruption  and  contagion.     "Holy,  holy,  holy, 
is  the  Lord  of  hosts." 

But  let  me   still  further   analyse    this    "  de- 


CHAPTER  II.   1  285 

structive  heresy."     If  we  do  not  begin  with  the 
Lord's  holiness,  we  can  have  no  discernment  of 
the  Lord's  atonement.     Dwell  below  the  snow- 
line, and  you  want  no   atonement !     And  for 
this  reason.     The  man  who  does  not  begin  his 
thinking  in  divine  holiness  will  have  no  keen 
and  poignant  perception  of  human  sin.     AVhat 
you  see  in  a  thing   depends  very  much   upon 
its    background.     John   Euskin   has   shown   us 
how    the    whitest    notepaper,    exposed    before 
the  tribunal  of  bright  sunshine,  reveals  its  in- 
herent grey.      It   all   depends   upon  the  back- 
ground.    If  your  background  be  gas-light,  your 
notepaper  will  appear  superlatively  white  ;  but 
if  the  background  be  the  all-revealing  flame  of 
God's  resplendent  sun,  the  apparent  white  will 
darken   into   grey.      I  have  seen  a  sea-gull  in 
flight,  with  a  black  cloud  for  a  background,  and 
the  bird  seemed  white  as  driven  snow ;  I  have 
seen  the  same  bird  upon  the  water,  with  a  back- 
ground  of  snowy  foam,   and  the   wings  were 
grey.     Yes,  what  is  your  background  ?     If  you 
do  not  begin  with  the  holiness  of  God  you  will 
never  see  the  blackness  of  sin.     If  3^our  back- 
ground  be   some   indifferent    human    standard, 
some    halting    expediency,    some    easy    policy, 
human  life,  and  your  own  included,  will  appear 
passably  clear.     I  think  I  am  no  pessimist,  but 
I  confess   I   look  with   some   alarm   at  what  I 


286    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

cannot  but  regard  as  the  lessening  sense  pf 
sin  whicli  seems  to  hold  our  modern  thought 
and  life.  One's  fears  are  difficult  to  express 
because  the  dark  symptoms  themselves  are  so 
difficult  to  disengage  and  define.  But  I  feel 
a  certain  dulness,  a  certain  drowsiness,  in  the 
spiritual  life.  I  feel  a  certain  close,  enerva- 
ting mugginess  in  the  moral  atmosphere ;  a  want 
of  alertness,  of  sharp  and  sensitive  response. 
Our  modern  Churches  are  too  indolently  con- 
tented, too  prematurely  satisfied,  and  are  much 
too  willing  to  take  easy  advantage  of  the  com- 
promises ofibred  of  the  world.  We  must  become 
suspicious  of  an  indulgent  terminology.  A 
violent  antagonist  of  the  Christian  faith,  a  man 
whose  method  of  attack  is  of  the  slap-dash 
kind,  declared,  only  a  few  days  ago,  "  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  sin  ;  there  is  only  error."  The 
man  who  begins  with  that  diagnosis  can  never 
prescribe  for  me.  But  we  must  see  to  it  that 
we  do  not  take  advantage  of  this  indulgent 
term,  and  the  Christian  pulpit  must  proclaim 
the  holiness  of  the  Lord,  and  allow  no  web  of 
wordy  sophistry  to  hide  the  great  white  throne  ! 
We  have  frequently  been  told  that  we  need  to 
recover  the  word  "  grace  "  ;  we  need  first  to  re- 
cover the  word  "  holiness  "  ;  holiness  will  recover 
the  word  sin.  And  if  sin  does  not  appear  sin, 
but  passes  muster  as  imperfect  virtue,  wherein 


CHAPTER  II.   1  287 

comes  the  need  of  atonement  ?  No  holiness,  no 
sin  ;  no  sin,  no  Saviour !  E-edemption  is  a  super- 
fluity, and  the  ministry  of  Jesus  is  a  wasteful 
toil,  and  His  passion  is  a  fruitless  death.  The 
man  who  has  no  vision  of  holiness  has  no  per- 
ception of  the  Atonement,  and  he  "  denies  the 
Lord  that  bought  him."  It  is  the  man  who  has 
ascended  above  the  snow-line,  who  will  wail  in 
his  secret  soul,  "  Woe  is  me,  for  I  am  unclean," 
and  who  will  smite  upon  his  breast,  saying, 
"  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner ! " 

"Well,  now,  see  the  consequence  of  these 
things.  I  have  been  trying  to  expound  the 
"  destructive  heresy "  which  I  think  is  the 
initial  cause  of  the  pollution  which  is  so  terribly 
unfolded  in  this  chapter.  If  these  cardinal 
conceptions  are  dull  or  eclipsed,  other  precious 
things  will  be  destroyed.  Cast  your  eyes  over 
this  widespread  corruption.  There  are  some 
"  conspicuous  absences."  There  are  many 
missing  treasures,  whose  absence  accounts  for 
the  filth.  I  miss  the  instinct  of  reverence! 
They  tremble  not  "to  rail  at  dignities."  It  is 
an  ill  thing  in  a  life  when  a  man  has  no 
sovereignty  before  which  he  bows  in  reverent 
awe.  Take  out  the  august,  and  life  is  reduced 
to  flippancy,  and  levity  is  the  master  of  the 
feast  both  day  and  night.  A  man  who  never 
reveres  will  find  it  impossible  to  be  true.     The 


288    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETEE 

man  who  never  kneels  in  spirit  can  scarcely  be 
upright  in  life.  To  bow  to  nothing  is  to  be 
master  of  nothing.  If  we  have  no  sense  of 
the  august  to  worship,  we  shall  have  httle  sense 
of  sin  to  expel. 

I  know  that  in  using  this  word  "august"  I 
am  using  and  borrowing  a  characteristic  ex- 
pression of  my  great  predecessor  Dr.  Dale, 
and  I  hope  I  am  using  it  with  something  of 
his  own  reach  and  loftiness  of  thought. 
I  do  not  know  anything  which  is  more 
needed  in  our  Free  Church  life  and  worship 
than  an  awed  and  reverent  consciousness 
of  God.  I  could  wish  that  we  moved  about 
our  very  sanctuaries  with  a  softer  step,  and 
that  our  very  demeanour  was  that  of  men  who 
are  held  in  a  subdued  wonder  at  the  majestic 
presence  of  God.  I  sometimes  think  that  our 
very  detachment  from  any  prescribed  order  of 
service,  our  boundless  freedom,  our  familiarity 
with  the  Lord,  our  easy  intimacy  in  communion, 
need  to  be  guarded  from  besetting  perils.  Even 
when  we  rejoice  in  the  Gospel  of  Calvary  let 
us  "  give  thanks  at  the  remembrance  of 
His  holiness." 

Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne 
Ye  nations  bow  with  sacred  joy. 

I  do  not  think  we  are  in  danger  of  "  railing 
at  dignities,"  but  I  do  think  we  are  in  danger  of 


CHAPTER  II.   1  289 

forgetting  the  supreme  dignity  of  them.  In 
one  of  his  letters  to  Matthew  Mowat,  Samuel 
Rutherford  uses  these  words :  "  Ye  should  give 
[God]  all  His  own  court-styles,  His  high  and 
heaven-names."  I  think  we  are  a  little  lacking 
in  the  court-style,  in  this  use  of  the  high  and 
heaven-names.  But  the  use  of  the  high  names 
will  come  back  when  our  souls  are  humbly 
gazing  upon  the  high  things.  AVhen  we  shall 
see  Him  as  John  the  Evangelist  saw  Him,  we, 
too,  "  shall  fall  at  His  feet  as  one  dead."  Our 
souls  will  always  have  the  stoop  of  reverent 
adoration  while  we  keep  in  view  the  vision 
of  the  holiness  of  our  Lord.  In  all  this 
revelling,  sweltering  chapter  I  miss  the  sense 
of  sin. 

And  amid  all  the  movements  I  miss  another 
treasure,  the  sense  of  a  large  and  noble  free- 
dom. I  know  there  is  a  talk  of  freedom,  but 
freedom  is  not  enjoyed.  "  Promising  them 
liberty,"  and  the  poor  fools  are  deluded  into 
the  thought  that  they  are  in  possession  of 
it.  I  know  they  are  ''  doing  just  as  they 
like,"  but  of  all  foriAs  of  bondage  that  is  the 
worst;  for  this  great  world,  and  the  laws 
of  its  government,  are  not  built  upon  the 
"  likes "  of  men,  but  upon  the  rights  and 
prerogatives  of  God.  How  can  a  man  be  free, 
even  though  the  song  of  freedom  be  ever  on 

19 


290    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

his  lips,  if  all  the  powers  in  grace  and  nature 
are  pledged  to  overthrow  him  ?  I  tell  you 
every  flower  of  the  field  is  ranked  against 
defilement,  and  all  the  forces  of  this  wonderful 
planet  are  arrayed  against  the  man  whose 
only  arbiter  is  his  own  "  likes,"  instead  of 
being  determined  by  the  arbitrament  of  the 
will  and  purpose  of  God.  A  man  who  is  in 
sin,  and  assumes  he  is  in  liberty,  and  is  satisfied 
with  his  position,  has  not  risen  to  the  con- 
tentment and  liberty  which  are  the  glory  of 
humankind,  but  is  sunk  to  the  animal  bondage 
of  the  sow,  which  gloats  and  wallows  in  the 
mire. 

There  are  other  missing  treasures  which  I 
might  name,  but  I  will  content  myself  in 
mentioning  only  one — the  absence  of  any 
perception  of  the  drift  and  purpose  of  history. 
"When  the  great  things  go  out  of  life,  when 
the  sublime  is  exiled,  when  reverence  dies  and 
the  days  decline  in  triviality,  men  lose  their 
sense  of  history,  and  yesterday  has  no  voice. 
"  And  I  heard  a  voice  behind  me,  saying ! " 
That  is  the  voice  of  yesterday,  and  it  is  the 
privilege  of  those  who  are  in  the  fellowship  of 
God  to  know  its  interpretation.  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  shout  through  the  centuries,  and  so 
do  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  and  Greece  and 
Eome  !     "  If  God  spared  not  the  ancient  world, 


CHAPTER  II.   1  291 

but  preserved  Noali  with  seven  others,  a  preacher 
of  righteousness,  when  He  brought  a  flood 
upon  the  ungodly "  ;  and  if  God  turned  "  the 
cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  into  ashes.  .  .  ." 
— that  is  the  voice  of  history,  the  shoutings  of 
experience,  and  by  the  people  in  this  chapter 
the  voice  is  unheeded  because  unheard.  All 
these  "  conspicuous  absences  " — the  instinct  of 
reverence,  the  feeling  of  sin,  the  sense  of  a 
noble  freedom,  and  the  recognition  of  historical 
witness — are  accounted  for  by  perverse  thinking, 
by  "  destructive  heresies,"  by  the  degradation 
of  the  Godhead,  by  the  eclipse  of  the  great  ^ 
white  throne.  Having  no  sense  of  holiness, 
they  "  denied  the  Lord  that  bought  them." 
The  lack  of  lofty  summit  explains  the  corrupt 
and  stagnant  plain. 

Now  this  particular  species  of  heresy  may 
not  be  prevalent  to-day.  I  do  not  know  that 
we  could  find  its  precise  lineaments  in  our  own 
time.  But  we  may  give  the  teaching  wide 
dominion.  Our  primary  conception  of  the 
Lord  will  determine  the  trend  and  quality  of 
our  own  life,  and  the  depth  or  shallowness 
of  its  ministry.  "Whatever  dethrones  or  dis-^ 
parages  Christ  will  impair  and  impoverish  man.y 
Anything  that  cheapens  the  Saviour  will  make 
us  worthless.  Any  teaching  which  puts  Him 
out  of  account,  which  removes  Him  from  the 


292    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

front  place,  which  relegates  Him  to  the  rear, 
which  in  any  way  ''  denies "  Him,  is  a  "  de- 
structive heresy,"  and  is  fraught  with  peril  and 
destruction.     Is  there  any  modern  peril  ? 

There  is  a  prevalent  teaching  to-day  which 
is  usually  known  as  the  ''  New  Thought."  I  do 
not  speak  as  its  antagonist,  but  as  one  who 
wishes  to  preserve  it  from  becoming  a  minister 
of  weakness  and  destruction.  I  welcome  much 
of  its  teaching.  I  believe  that  in  discover- 
ing and  clarifying  psychological  laws  it  may 
render  unspeakable  help  to  the  living  of  a 
Christian  life.  I  believe  that  we  are  now 
standing  upon  the  borderland  of  a  marvellous 
country,  and  that  mystic  forces  are  to  be 
revealed  to  us  of  which  hitherto  we  have  only 
dimly  dreamed.  I  believe  that  the  marvellous 
phenomena  of  telepathy  and  hypnotism,  and  all 
the  discoveries  we  are  making  in  this  dim  and 
impalpable  world,  may  mightily  help  us  in  the 
fortification  of  pure  and  resolute  habit.  But  I 
see  a  danger,  an  ominous  danger,  a  danger  real 
and  immediate.  I  know  the  literature  of  this 
new  teaching,  the  literature  both  of  this  country 
and  of  the  United  States;  I  speak  from  first- 
hand knowledge,  and  I  say  that  the  teaching 
gives  no  adequate  place  and  sovereignty  to 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  He  is  of  little  or  no 
account ;  He  is  occasionally  mentioned,  but  only 


CHAPTEE  II.   1  293 

as  one  of  a  crowd,  and  He  is  not  accorded  that 
unique  and  solitary  pre-eminence  which  He 
claims.  In  one  of  the  latest,  and  in  some 
respects  the  ablest,  of  these  books  I  have  looked 
in  vain  from  end  to  end  for  even  the  bare 
mention  of  the  Saviour's  name.  He  does  not 
count !  He  is  a  negligible  and  therefore 
neglected  factor,  and  is  left  entirely  out  of  the 
reckoning.  And  because  He  is  absent,  other 
things  are  missing.  I  find  no  mention  of 
guilt.  Earely  do  I  stumble  upon  the  fact  of 
sin.  In  the  ''New  Thought"  there  is  no  con- 
fession of  sin,  no  sob  of  penitence,  no  plea  for 
forgiveness,  no  leaning  upon  mercy.  The  atone- 
ment is  an  obsolete  device,  the  pardonable 
expedient  of  a  primitive  day.  ''A  man  must 
acquire  the  art,"  says  one  of  the  best  of  these 
teachers,  "the  art  of  allowing  the  past,  with 
whatever  errors,  sins,  faults,  follies,  or  ignorances 
entangled,  to  slip  out  of  sight."  How  easy  the 
suggestion,  how  tremendous  the  achievement! 
For  the  most  of  us  that  burden  slips  away  only 
where  the  pilgrim's  burden  rolled  awa}^,  at 
the  foot  of  the  Saviour's  cross,  where  it  rolls 
into  the  Saviour's  grave.  I  care  not  what 
veins  of  helpful  ministry  these  men  and  women 
may  strike,  if  they  ignore  the  Saviour  and 
the  ministry  of  redeeming  grace,  they  are 
dealing  with  essentially  surface  forces  as  com- 


294    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

pared  with  the  mighty  powers  born  of  personal 
communion  with  Him.  It  is  a  teaching  which 
practically  "  denies  the  Lord  that  bought  us," 
and  so  far  it  is  a  "  destructive  heresy  "  which 
offers  no  adequate  ministry  for  the  liberation 
of  sinful  men,  and  for  the  attainment  of  a  full 
and  matured  life.  All  thinking  is  initially 
wrong  which  does  not  begin  with  the  unique 
holiness  of  the  Lord,  and  which  does  not  reserve 
for  Him  a  supreme  and  sovereign  place  in  man's 
redemption.  And  that,  too,  is  the  severest 
indictment  of  spiritualism.  It  has  little  or 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Lord.  It  concerns  itself 
with  meaner  folk,  with  smaller  themes,  and  with 
trivial  communion.  Who  ever  heard  of  a 
spiritualistic  campaign  for  the  reclamation  of 
the  lost?  That's  where  its  sense  is  dull. 
''Saviour!"  That's  where  the  vision  is  dim. 
We  must  bring  all  teachings,  and  all  ministries 
to  the  touchstone  of  our  exalted  Lord  and 
Saviour.  What  do  they  do  with  Him  ?  What 
think  they  of  Christ?  We  must  suspect  any- 
thing and  everything  which  lays  Him  under 
eclipse.  Do  they  deny  the  Lord  that  bought 
US  ?  Do  they  dim  His  glory,  and  rank  Him  in 
the  indiscriminate  crowd  ?  Then  we  must  label 
them  as  "  destructive  heresies,"  whose  forces 
can  never  achieve  the  redemption  of  human- 
kind. 


CHAPTER  n.  1  295 

"What,  then,  shall  we  pray  for  ourselves  and 
for  others  ?  First  of  all  we  will  pray  that  we 
may  never  lose  sight  of  the  heights  of  the 
Divine  holiness !  We  are  told  that  they,  who 
dwell  beneath  great  domes,  acquire  a  certain 
loftiness  and  stateliness  of  bearing  which  dis- 
tinguishes them  from  their  fellows.  Let  us 
pray  that  about  our  brethren  and  ourselves 
there  may  be  a  mystic  significance,  a  breadth 
and  height  of  character,  a  nobility  of  life, 
telling  of  the  sublime  abode  in  which  we  dwell. 
May  we  dwell  in  the  truth,  live  and  move  in 
the  truth,  and  by  no  perilous  emphasis  of  minor 
themes  and  things  deny  the  Lord  that  bought  us. 


WOESE  THAN  THE  FIEST 

1  Peter  ii.  20,  21 

For  if,  after  they  have  escaped  the  defilements  of  the, 
world  through  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  they  are  again  entangled  therein  and  overcome,  the 
last  state  is  become  worse  tvith  them  than  the  first.  For  it 
were  better  for  them  not  to  have  known  the  way  of  righteous- 
ness, than,  after  knowing  it,  to  turn  back  from  the  holy 
commandment  delivered  unto  the7n. 

Verse  20  "  The  last  state  is  become  worse  with  them  than 
the  firstJ^  Apostasy  is  worse  than  ignorance  ! 
It  were  better  for  us  never  to  have  come  within 
sight  of  the  Kingdom,  and  to  have  remained 
in  ignorance  of  its  privileges  and  glory,  than, 
having  entered  the  gate,  to  become  rebels  to 
its  sovereignty,  and  to  turn  our  backs  upon  its 
contemplated  ministries  of  grace.  To  approach 
the  Divine  is  an  unspeakable  favour;  it  is  also 
an  appalling  responsibility.  Light  that  is  trifled 
with  becomes  lightning ;  the  splendour  of  the 
great  white  throne  becomes  a  "  consuming  fire." 
To  have  known,  and  then  to  rebel,  translates 
our  very  knowledge  into  a  minister  of  destruc- 
tion.     The   abuse   of  the   highest   degrades  us 

296 


CHAPTER  II.  20,  21  297 

beneath  the  lowest.  "  The  first  shall  be  last." 
"  The  last  is  become  worse  with  them  than  the 
first."  "  Lilies  that  fester  smell  far  worse  than 
weeds."  Here,  in  the  apostle's  words,  we  have 
depicted  for  us  the  rise  and  fall  of  a  soul. 
There  is  the  realisation  of  moral  deliverance : 
"  they  have  escaped  the  defilements  of  the  world  Verse  20 
through  the  knoivledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Ghristr  There  is  the  subsequent  moral 
relapse  :  "  they  are  again  entangled  therein  and 
overcome.^^  And  there  is  the  consequent  de- 
terioration in  the  moral  and  spiritual  capital 
of  the  life :  ^^the  last  state  is  become  worse  with 
them  than  the  first.^^ 

The  realisation  of  moral  deliverance.  "  They 
have  escaped  the  defilements  of  the  world." 
What  is  this  "  defilement "  of  the  world  in 
which  these  souls  have  been  imprisoned  ?  Who 
can  define  it  ?  Who  can  lay  hold  of  this  subtle 
and  varying  corruption,  and  give  it  an  inter- 
pretative name  ?  Its  metamorphoses  are  extra- 
ordinary. It  has  a  hundred  different  guises, 
changing  its  attire  continually,  but  amid  aU  its 
shifting  appearances  it  remains  essentially  the 
same.  You  have  the  same  essential  elements 
in  solid  ice,  in  flowing  water,  in  hissing  steam, 
in  wreathing  vapour,  in  moving  cloud.  In  all 
the  multiplex  forms  you  have  the  same  essence  : 
the  reality  abides  j  it  is  only  a  change  of  attire. 


298    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETEB 

You  can  have  tlie  same  poison  in  varying  pre- 
parations, mingling  with  different  compounds, 
appearing  in  diverse  colours,  and  confined  within 
dissimilar  flasks.  The  incidentals  are  many,  the 
poisonous  essence  is  one  and  the  same.  And 
so  it  is  with  this  "corruption"  of  the  world; 
it  pervades  different  sets  of  circumstances  ;  it 
enshrines  itself  in  different  compositions,  but 
everywhere  and  anywhere  it  is  the  same  de- 
structive minister.  It  is  the  same  in  White- 
chapel  and  Belgravia,  in  the  House  of  Commons 
and  on  a  racecourse,  in  the  King's  palace  and 
the  peasant's  hut,  in  the  Church  and  on  the 
Exchange.  You  may  have  "  the  defilements  of 
the  world"  palpable  and  gross,  and  you  may 
have  them  tenuous  and  refined.  They  may  be 
rank  and  offensive  as  "the  lust  of  the  flesh"; 
they  may  be  rare  and  vain  and  elusive  as  "  the 
pride  of  life."  Yes,  many  forms,  but  one  spirit ! 
**  The  fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away."  The 
"  fashion  "  changes  ;  the  thing  itself  abides. 

"  The  defilements  of  the  world."  Every  age 
seems  to  have  its  own  characteristic  corruption, 
its  own  destructive,  worldly  form  and  colour. 
When  St.  Anthony  went  out  into  the  Egyptian 
desert  as  a  protest  and  safeguard  against  the 
corruption  of  his  time,  it  was  a  different  form 
of  worldliness  to  that  which  encountered  St. 
Benedict  in   a  succeeding   century,  and  which 


CHAPTEE  II.  20,   21  299 

drove  him  to  found  his  great  Monastic  Order ; 
and  the  worldliness  against  which  St.  Benedict 
contended  differed  from  the  corruption  which 
surrounded  St.  Francis  when,  at  a  later  day,  he 
established  the  Order  of  the  Mendicant  Friars. 
All  these  forms  of  monasticism  fought  the  same 
essential  corruption,  but  it  appeared  here  in 
the  shape  of  a  decaying  individualism,  and  there 
in  the  shape  of  social  and  political  dissolution, 
and  yonder  in  the  shape  of  a  proud  and  luxurious 
Church.  ''The  fashion  of  this  world  passeth  y 
away."  How  different  is  the  worldliness  which 
forced  the  Salvation  Army  into  existence  from 
the  worldliness  which  prevailed  at  the  time  of 
the  evangelical  revival!  John  Wesley  and 
General  Booth  looked  out  upon  quite  different 
conditions,  but  the  difference  was  only  in  the 
shape  of  the  flask  and  the  colour  of  the  com- 
pound; the  essential  adversary  was  the  same. 
The  corruption  of  our  own  day  wears  a  different 
guise  from  the  corruption  of  twenty-five  years 
ago.  It  has  transferred  itself  to  other  spheres, 
and  has  pervaded  new  sets  of  relationships,  and 
you  have  to  look  for  it  in  new  attire.  The 
fashion  changes  ;  the  pollution  abides  !  Behind 
all  the  shiftings  of  the  centuries  the  defilement 
persists,  and  it  manifests  itself  in  a  mode  of 
thinking,  a  mode  of  working,  and  a  mode  of 
living  which   is   essentially   anti-Christian.      It 


300    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

is  the  anti-Christian  drift  in  the  life  of  a 
generation  which  constitutes  its  pollution,  and 
such  drift  may  be  found  with  equal  certainty 
in  Mayfair  and  the  Seven  Dials.  It  is  a  subtle 
spirit,  now  enshrining  itself  in  an  individual, 
now  in  a  society,  now  in  a  Parliament,  now 
in  literature,  now  in  art,  now  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  treasure,  now  in  the  apportioning  of 
leisure,  in  a  hundred  different  vestures,  but 
remaining  always  the  anti-Christian  drift,  and 
ever  degrading  its  victims  into  Christian 
negations. 

Now  this  "  defilement  of  the  world "  is  an 
infection,  and  propagates  itself  like  a  foul 
contagion.  It  is  a  significant  and  suggestive 
thing  that  the  word  which  our  version  translates 
by  "  defilements  "  is  our  English  word  "  miasma." 
It  is  the  suggestion  of  the  process  by  which 
the  corruption  works.  "  The  miasma  of  the 
world !  "  And  what  is  a  miasma  ?  Medical 
science  has  a  synonym  for  the  word  which  gives 
us  much  enlightenment.  ''Aerial  poison  !  "  A 
miasma  is  an  aerial  poison,  an  emanation  or 
effiuvia  rising  from  the  ground  and  floating  in 
the  air.  "  The  miasma  of  the  world."  It  is 
pervasive  as  an  aerial  poison,  it  distributes  itself 
like  a  destructive  contagion.  Let  an  unclean 
miasma,  some  foul  immorality,  infest  one  lad  in 
a  public   school,  and  the  school  will  seek    its 


CHAPTER  II.  20,  21  301 

own  security  by  his  immediate  expulsion.  One 
polluted  lad  can  infect  a  thousand.  "  The 
miasma  of  the  world."  We  know  the  workings 
of  the  principle  in  social  clubs.  It  is  amazing 
how  soon  the  miasma  can  pollute  a  society.  It 
has  happened  before  now  that  one  man  has 
degraded  a  social  fellowship,  and  has  created  a 
malaria  which  pure  men  have  refused  to  breathe. 
What  has  happened  in  smaller  communities  has 
also  prevailed  in  civic  fellowships  and  in  the 
larger  life  of  the  State.  "  Evil  communications 
corrupt  good  manners."  Sometimes  we  can 
withdraw  ourselves  from  an  evil  contagion,  and 
our  withdrawal  may  tend  to  destroy  it  by 
neglect.  But  we  cannot  altogether  get  away 
from  "the  miasma  of  the  world."  We  are  in 
the  world,  and  the  air  is  infected,  and  we  have 
got  to  breathe  it.     How  then  ? 

There  is  a  way  of  escape.  "  They  have 
escaped  the  miasma  of  the  world."  We  can  be 
rendered  immune,  as  medical  science  can  make 
us  immune  in  the  presence  of  some  particular 
contagion.  "  I  pray  not  that  Thou  shouldest 
take  them  out  of  the  world,"  but  that  Thou 
shouldest  make  them  immune — "  that  Thou 
shouldest  keep  them  from  the  evil."  Eegard 
it  or  disregard  it  as  we  may,  this  is  the  claim 
of  the  real  Christian  science,  the  promise  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ :    "If  they  drink  any  deadly 


302    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

thing  it  shall  not  hurt  them."     It  is  possible  for 
a  man  to  move  amid  the  prevailing  miasma  of 
his  day,  to  live  and  move  and  have  his  being  in 
its  very  presence,  and  yet  to  remain  in  robust 
moral    health.      Now,    mark    you,    this    moral 
deliverance    is    attained    through     a    spiritual 
fellowship.    "  They  have  escaped  the  defilements 
Verse  20  of  the  world  through  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ''     An  escape  from  the 
miasma  by  the  "  knowledge  "  of  a  Person  !     But 
that  word  "  knowledge  "  implies  infinitely  more 
than  mental  conception.     It  is  the  "  knowledge  " 
^        which     implies    acquaintance,    intimacy,    com- 
munion,   community.      I   should   not   be  doing 
violence  to  the  meaning  of  my  text  if  I  were 
to  read  it  in  this  wise  :    "  They  have  escaped 
the  miasma  of  the  world  through  the  partnership 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."     It  is  a 
*'  knowledge  "  which  implies  a  league,  a  covenant, 
a    ''partaking    of    the    Divine    nature";    and 
through  this  marvellous  union  there  flows  into 
human-kind    a    river   of    regenerating   energy, 
reinforcing  our  miserable  weakness,  and  endow- 
ing  us   with    all   the   resistances    of   invincible 
^    health.      Our  Lord   makes  us   immune   to  the 
miasma  of  the  world  by  communicating  to  us 
His  own  victorious  virtue,   and   by  making  us 
sublimely  positive  to  all  the  assaults  and  nega- 
tions of  the  devil.      "He   restoreth   my  soul." 


CHAPTER  II.   20,   21  303 

*'  Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  of  the  pestilence  that 
walketh   in    darkness."      *'I  will   fear   no   ill.'  * 
Such  is  the  way  of  escape. 

But  now  the  apostle  unfolds  a  dark  sequence. 
The  moral  deliverance  may  be  followed  by  a 
moral  relapse.  "  They  are  again  enta.ngled  Verse  2( 
therein  and  overcome."  Need  I  say  that  this 
immoral  alliance  is  occasioned  by  the  breaking 
of  the  spiritual  alliance  ?  Our  spiritual  attach- 
ment endows  us  with  a  powerful  antidote  and 
antagonism  to  the  miasma  of  the  world.  Relax 
the  attachment  and  you  weaken  the  antidote. 
Sever  your  spiritual  communion  and  you  im- 
poverish your  moral  defence.  It  is  a  sequence 
which  is  illustrated  every  day  in  multitudes  of 
lives.  Maintain  your  alliance  with  the  Lord, 
and  you  are  secure  in  a  health  which  keeps 
your  enemy  at  the  gate.  Let  your  alliance 
become  loose,  and  your  moral  repulsion  grows 
faint.  I  offer  no  argument  to  prove  it ;  the 
proof  is  found  in  common  experience.  "  Demas 
hath  forsaken  me,  having  loved  this  present 
evil  world."  Yes,  but  before  Demas  had  for- 
saken Paul,  he  had  broken  with  the  Lord,  and 
then  he  swung  back  in  mighty  drift  towards  r 
the  world.  When  he  had  wilfully  rejected  the 
help  of  the  heavenly  energy,  he  succumbed  to 
the  gravitation  of  the  world.  He  was  no  longer 
immune,  and  the  miasma  subdued  him  in  the 


304    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

common  defilement.  How  suggestive  are  the 
words  in  which  the  apostle  describes  the  re- 
Verse  20  lapse  :  "  They  are  again  entangled^  They  begin 
to  move  towards  the  world,  and  presently  they 
become  involved.  It  is  a  figure  of  this  kind  : 
they  go  too  near  the  destructive  machinery ; 
they  go  in  a  prying  curiosity,  and  they  are 
caught  by  a  sleeve,  and  are  undone  !  "  They 
are  again  entangled."  Ah,  it  is  by  our  loose- 
nesses that  we  are  caught  and  involved  !  "When 
we  leave  our  Lord  our  thought  becomes  loose, 
we  exercise  too  much  freedom  of  thinking ;  and 
some  loose  end  becomes  entangled,  and  we  are 
"  overcome."  When  we  leave  our  Lord  our 
speech  becomes  loose ;  we  say  what  we  like  and 
not  what  we  ought;  and  some  loose  phrase 
gets  entangled  and  we  are  "  overcome."  When 
we  leave  our  Lord  our  affections  become  loose  ; 
deserting  the  great  Lover  we  flirt  with  the 
world :  "  I  will  go  after  my  lovers."  We  become 
"lovers  of  pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God," 
and  we  are  speedily  involved  and  undone.  Im- 
mediately we  begin  to  weaken  our  alliance 
with  the  Lord  we  begin  to  re-establish  our 
communion  with  the  world.  The  re-establish- 
ment of  the  immoral  alliance  may  begin  in 
apparently  trifling  flirtations,  but  it  speedily 
issues  in  a  dark  enslavement.  When  you  wish 
to  moor  a  big  boat  to  a  pier,  you  first  throw 


CHAPTER  II.   20,   21  305 

across  the  intervening  gulf  a  light  line. 
Gulliver's  bondage  in  Lilliput  began  in  the 
binding  down  of  a  single  hair !  And  our  light 
flirtations  with  the  defiled  world,  the  yielding  of 
a  hair  here  and  a  hair  there  to  its  playful  caress, 
will  lead  to  an  eventual  entanglement  which  will 
make  the  soul  the  bond-slave  of  pollution.  To 
trifle  with  the  world  is  to  play  with  the  plague. 
"  They  are  again  entangled  and  overcome." 

And  what  is  the  moral  status  of  the  back- 
slider ?  "  The  last  state  is  become  ivorse  with  them  Verse  20 
than  the  firsts  Here  is  a  man  who  has  had 
intimacy  with  the  Lord.  By  the  strength  of 
the  holy  partnership  he  has  been  kept  inviolate, 
and  ''no  plague  has  come  nigh  his  dwelling." 
He  dissolves  the  partnership ;  he  opens  up  a 
lost  communion ;  he  turns  like  "  a  dog  to  his 
vomit,"  and  "  a  sow  to  the  mire,"  and  the  ap- 
palling issue  is  this,  that  "  it  were  better  had  he 
never  known  the  way  of  righteousness,"  and  the 
last  state  of  the  man  is  worse  than  the  first ! 
How  is  he  worse  ?  In  spiritual  apprehension. 
His  sense  of  God  is  tremendously  abused,  and 
he  has  not  the  same  receptive  organ  to  the 
Divine  that  he  had  when  first  he  sought  the 
Lord.  He  has  not  the  same  appreciation  of 
grace,  the  same  craving  for  forgiveness,  the 
same  hunger  for  holiness,  the  same  longing  for 
home!      How    is    he    worse?      In    moral    dis- 

20 


306    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

crimination.  His  moral  palate  is  not  as  sensitive 
as  when  he  first  surrendered  his  life  to  the  King. 
His  mouth  is  harder  !  He  can  swallow  iniquity 
neat.  How  is  he  worse  ?  In  the  poverty  of  his 
emotional  force.  The  fundamental  energies  of 
the  life  are  sluggish  or  dead,  the  love -force,  the 
hope-force,  the  faith-force,  the  ultimate  momenta 
which  constitute  the  wealth  and  dignity  of  man. 
How  is  he  worse?  Because  he  does  not  know 
he  is  worse  !  "  Thou  sayest  I  am  rich,  and  have 
gotten  riches,  and  have  need  of  nothing  ;  and 
knowest  not  that  thou  art  the  wretched  one  and 
miserable  and  poor  and  blind  and  naked!"  "  The 
last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first." 

Can  such  a  man  be  recovered?  Oh  yes! 
Backsliders  may  be  converted  and  recovered. 
*'He  is  able  to  save  unto  the  uttermost!"  ^'I 
will  recover  thee  of  thy  backsliding."  "All 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth." 

Though  earth  and  hell  the  word  gainsay, 
The  word  of  God  can  never  fail : 

The  Lamb  shall  take  my  sins  away, 
'Tis  certain,  though  impossible  : 

The  thing  impossible  shall  be, 

All  things  are  possible  to  me. 

All  things  are  possible  to  God, 

To  Christ,  the  power  of  God  in  man, 

To  men,  when  I  am  all  renewed, 
When  I  in  Christ  am  formed  again, 

And  when,  from  all  sin  set  free. 

All  things  are  possible  to  me. 


THE  LEISURELINESS  OF  GOD. 

2  Peter  iii.  3,  4,  8,  9. 

Mochers  shall  come  ivith  mockery,  walking  after  their  own 
lusts,  and  saying.  Where  is  the  jyromise  of  His  ptrsence  ?  .  .  . 
One  day  is  ivith  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a 
thousand  years  as  one  day.  The  Lord  is  not  slack  concern- 
ing His  promise,  as  some  count  slackness  ;  hut  is  long  suffering 
to  you-ward,  not  wishing  that  any  should  perish,  hut  that 
all  should  come  to  repentance. 

"  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  presence  ?  "  Where  Verse  i 
are  the  signs  of  the  King's  presence  and 
ministry  ?  Where  are  the  prints  of  His  goings  ? 
Show  us  the  proofs  of  His  interposition,  the 
evidences  of  His  revolutionary  and  transforming 
work!  Eeveal  to  us  the  witness  of  His  handi- 
work, or  at  any  rate  let  us  see  and  touch  the 
hem  of  His  garment !  "  Where  is  the  promise 
of  His  presence  ?  "  It  is  the  uproarious  cry  of 
the  mockers,  "  walking  after  their  own  lusts J^  Verse  3 
They  are  proclaiming  the  heedlessness  of  the 
Almighty ;  "  The  Lord  God  is  not  moving,  with 
attentive  ministry,  along  the  ways  of  men !  He 
is  far  away,  in  the  boundless  hunting-ground  of 
space,  engaged  with  larger  prey  I " 

307 


808    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

"  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  presence  ?  "  It 
is  not  only  the  shout  of  the  scoffer,  it  is  the  low, 
poignant  cry  of  the  devout.  The  voices  in  this 
Book  are  many  and  manifold.  You  can  hear  the 
loud,  laughing  jeer  of  the  mocker,  rising  in 
the  very  midst  of  prophecy  and  psalm  :  and  you 
can  you  hear  the  wail  of  the  perplexed,  like  a 
low,  long  moan  of  pain.  "  How  long  wilt  Thou 
forget  me,  0  Lord  ?  "  "  Lord,  how  long  wilt 
Thou  look  on?"  ''How  long,  0  Lord,  how 
long  ?  "  The  defiant  and  reckless  scorn,  and  the 
agonising  doubt,  concern  themselves  with  one 
thing — the  apparent  heedlessness  of  God. 

"What,  then,  is  the  problem  ?  It  is  this.  Men 
are  confronted  with  an  apparently  undiscriminat- 
ing  and  uncompassionating  juggernaut.  No 
hand  seems  to  be  busy  in  human  affairs  engaged 
in  just  and  discerning  judgment.  There  is  no 
selection  determined  by  moral  worth.  The  vast 
movement  is  blind  and  capricious.  The  gigantic 
machine  staggers  along,  like  some  untended 
traction  engine,  and  its  huge,  grinding  wheels 
bruise  and  break  all  things  into  a  common  mass, 
stones  and  little  children,  the  wasteful  and  the 
useful,  the  sinner  and  the  saint. 

Let  me  read  to  you  a  short  passage  from  one 
of  the  most  delicate  and  sensitive  of  our  present- 
day  writers,  who  thus  expresses  a  part  of  this 
sharp  and  burdensome  problem :  "  Last  summer, 


CHAPTER   III.   3,   4,   8,  9  309 


)    -^j 


as  I  walked  in  my  gardeiij^  I  heard  a  fledgeling 
sparrow  chirruping  merrily  under  a  bush.  Pos- 
sibly he  had  by  accident  dropped  out  of  his 
nest,  and,  by  making  parachutes  of  his  wings, 
had  so  broken  his  fall  as  to  reach  ground 
without  taking  hurt,  and  was  now  in  a  flutter, 
between  pride  and  fear,  at  his  own  daring.  For 
a  few  minutes  I  watched  him  ruffling  it  as 
roguishly  as  a  robin,  now  cocking  his  glossy 
head  at  a  sprawling  worm,  now  stropping  his 
tiny  beak,  razor-wise,  upon  a  twig,  and  twitter- 
ing lustily  meanwhile  for  very  joy  of  his  freedom 
and  of  his  merry  youth  and  of  the  summer 
morning.  ...  I  insinuated  myself  into  my 
hammock,  and  with  my  fingers  between  the 
pages  of  a  book,  lay  a-swing  in  the  sunshine  as 
in  the  centre  of  a  golden  globe.  For  a  time  I 
forgot  both  book  and  bird.  Then  suddenly  my 
golden  globe  shattered  into  darkness  at  a  sound 
— a  mere  thimbleful  of  sound — a  scream  of 
terror  and  agony,  so  tiny  and  yet  so  haunting 
and  so  horrible,  that  I  seem  to  hear  it  even  now. 
A  tame  rook  that  has  the  run  of  my  garden  had 
pinned  the  sparrow,  breast  upward,  under  his 
talons,  and,  as  I  looked,  was  stabbing  the  life 
out  of  him  with  iron  beak.  For  that  wee  bird 
no  happy  warbling  among  the  leaves:  no 
happier  rearing  of  his  young.  .  .  .  The  sight  of 
that  helpless  nestling,  done  to  death  in  the  June 


310    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

sunshine,  and  by  one  of  his  feathered  kin,  turned 
me  sick  and  faint  with  horror."  "  Where  is  the 
promise  of  His  presence  ?  " 

I  had  just  written  these  words  when  an  urgent 
letter  was  placed  upon  my  desk.  I  paused  in  my 
work  to  open  and  read  it,  and  this  sentence  gave 
its  crimson  hue  to  deepen  the  colour  of  my  page : 
*'  We  have  had  another  physician  to  see  her,  and 
he  pronounces  the  disease  to  be  cancer."  The 
victim  is  an  incarnate  angel,  who  has  moved 
along  the  hard  roads  of  life  with  all  the  sweeten- 
ing and  reviving  ministry  of  a  perfume.  Her 
life  has  been  a  daily  death;  she  has  acquired 
only  that  she  might  give  again,  she  has  spent 
herself  in  order  that  by  the  energy  of  sacrificial 
blood  others  might  be  made  alive.  And  now, 
cancer !  "  We  have  had  another  physician  to 
see  her,  and  he  pronounces  the  disease  to  be 
cancer."  That  cancer  should  have  come  to  her  ! 
**  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  presence  ?  " 

The  same  morning  I  had  read  these  words  in 
my  daily  paper:  "The  6th  Company  of  the 
23rd  Siberian  Eegiment  reached  the  summit, 
and  rushed  in  the  Japanese  defences.  They 
were,  however,  received  with  fixed  bayonets,  the 
captain  being  lifted  into  the  air  by  several 
Japanese  on  the  points  of  their  weapons.  The 
rest  of  the  company  all  perished  before  the 
companies  following  could  get  up.     This  is  the 


CHAPTEE  III.  3,  4,  8,  9  311 

tenth  day  such  a  butchery  has  been  going  on. 
The  Turkish  War  was  a  joke  to  this  !  Over 
all  this  vast  field  of  action,  an  area  of  thirty 
miles,  the  ground  is  strewn  with  the  dead,  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  human  wrecks  are  being 
carried  south  and  north  from  this  unexampled 
battlefield."  Let  that  gory  record  add  its  quota 
to  the  already  deeply  dyed  and  troubled  page. 
**  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  presence?  ^^ 

And  that  is  not  all.  The  difficulty  is  accen- 
tuated when  one  turns  from  the  victims  to  some 
of  those  who  apparently  escape.  Notoriously 
bad  men  are  housed  in  comfort,  and  useless 
women  are  clothed  in  silks  and  satins,  and  walk 
the  sunny  side  of  the  way.  Dishonesty  sweeps 
by  in  the  carriage,  while  integrity  creeps  foot- 
sore by  the  kerb.  "Fools  ride  on  horseback, 
while  princes  walk  by  their  side."  The  sleep  of 
the  beast  is  untroubled,  while  the  saint  moans 
through  the  night  in  pain.  The  contrasts  are 
apparently  appalling,  and  fortune  does  not 
favour  the  brave !  "  Where  is  the  promise  of  His 
presence  ?  " 

What  shall  we  say  to  these  things?  Let 
us  say,  first  of  all,  that  we  are  very  ignorant, 
that  our  eyes  are  only  endowed  with  short 
range,  and  that  our  knowledge  has  severe  and 
almost  immediate  limitations.  Do  not  let  us 
regard   our  uncertain  guessings  as  final  judg- 


312    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

ments.  Let  us  admit  the  mystery,  and  cease 
our  bitter  dogmatisms  until  the  mist  has  rolled 
away.  How  little  we  know !  That  little  fledgling, 
done  to  death  by  the  rook,  how  little  we  know 
about  him !  The  dropping  from  the  nest,  his 
little  chirp,  his  material  equipment,  the  scream 
and  ...  we  know  no  more !  "  If  God  saw  fit," 
says  our  literary  friend,  "  to  set  that  little  creature 
singing  in  the  green  groves  of  Paradise  (and  who 
dare  say  that  God  has  no  place  in  His  universe 
for  the  sparrow,  that  God  Himself  has  told  us  is 
evermore  within  His  care  !),  if  God  saw  fit,  at 
the  cost  of  a  moment's  pain,  to  take  His  bird — 
where  danger  shall  menace  never  more,  what  is 
that  to  you  ?  "  Our  range  of  vision  is  ineffective, 
and  we  haven't  the  evidence  to  justify  a  harsh 
and  bitter  verdict. 

My  cancer-stricken  friend,  how  little  I  know 
about  her!  And  sometimes  in  my  thinking  I 
do  not  include  all  the  little  I  know.  I  called  her 
"  victim "  ;  the  strange  thing  is  that  she  would 
never  use  the  word  about  herself,  and  her 
thoughts  about  herself  are  part  of  the  case.  I 
refuse  to  allow  any  verdict  upon  her  which  takes 
no  account  of  her  peace,  and  resignation,  and 
deep  and  unsmitten  faith.  I  can  hold  no  parley 
with  judges  who  keep  their  eyes  glued  upon  the 
corroding  disease,  and  pay  no  regard  to  her  long 
and  radiant  vista  of  immortal  hope.     I  say  that 


CHAPTER  III.  3,  4,  8,  9  313 

the  "  victim's  "  assurance  is  part  of  the  problem, 
and  must  not  be  ignored  in  the  verdict. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is,  our  thoughts  are 
moving  upon  an  altogether  inadequate  scale. 
That  is  the  teaching  of  this  chapter  to  troubled 
and  doubt-stricken  men.  "  One  day  is  with  the  verse  8 
Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years 
as  one  day.^^  We  are  not  thinking  on  a  suffi- 
ciently adequate  scale :  our  thoughts  cannot 
wrap  themselves  about  the  entirety  of  the  place. 
We  know  what  ministry  an  enlarged  scale 
accomplishes  even  for  some  of  the  smaller 
things  which  lie  in  the  term  of  human  years. 
A  thing  looked  at  in  the  scale  of  one  day  is 
quite  a  different  matter  when  set  in  the  scale 
of  seventy  years.  The  scale  of  one  day 
obscures  purpose  and  tendency,  and  veils  ''  the 
far-off  interest  of  tears."  I  lately  read  some 
extracts  from  a  printed  diary,  and  I  would  like 
to  read  you  a  part  of  them.  The  first  is  from 
the  diary  of  a  boy,  and  I  will  give  it  just  as 
it  appears.*  "  I  cannot  pretend  to  like  this 
school,  however  much  I  try.  The  head  is  a 
beast,  and  not  one  of  the  under  masters  is 
a  decent  chap.  I  hate  being  kept  in  after 
hours  when  the  other  fellows  are  going  out 
to  games,  yet,  whenever  I  haven't  done  a 
lesson  right  they  make  me  do  it  until  I  know 
*  Blake's  A  ReasonaUe  View  of  Life. 


314    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

it  thoroughly.  This  is  constantly  the  case 
with  my  Latin.  Also  I  do  loathe  the  food  they 
give  us ;  we  have  to  eat  fat  and  lean  together, 
and  fat  is  beastly.  Also,  however  cold  it  is, 
we  have  to  take  long  runs  when  it  would  be 
much  nicer  to  sit  by  the  fire  and  be  comfortable. 
Also  I  can't  understand  my  father  and  mother, 
who  say  they  love  me  and  all  that,  sending 
me  to  such  a  place.'* 

Just  fifty  years  later  the  same  hand  wrote 
these  words,  when  the  writer's  name  was  known 
throughout  the  world.  "  Of  my  many  advan- 
tages in  early  life,  I  place  easily  first  my 
parents,  whose  particular  method  of  training 
me  was  beyond  all  praise.  ...  In  looking  back 
upon  my  first  school,  I  can  think  of  it  only 
with  affection,  for  the  manner  in  which  the 
masters  treated  my  inert  tendency  of  character 
was  entirely  admirable.  To  their  insistence  at 
that  period  I  owe  one  of  the  keenest  delights 
of  my  maturer  years,  a  love  for  •the  Latin 
authors.  ...  In  the  matter  of  physical  sound- 
ness, also,  I  am  certainly  much  indebted  to  the 
school  runs,  which  were  compulsory,  and  to  the 
wholesome  and  sensible  diet  on  which  we  were 
fed,  without  which  I  should  not  possess  to-day 
the  virility  which  has  kept  me  free  from 
disease  to  a  quite  unusual  extent."  Need  I 
point  the  moral  of  the  contrasts?     The  boy's 


CHAPTER  III.   3,  4,  8,  9  315 

entry  enshrines  a  verdict  fashioned  upon  tlie 
scale  of  a  day :  the  man's  entry  declares  a 
judgment  fashioned  to  the  scale  of  fifty  years. 
It  is  all  a  matter  of  scale  !  "  One  day  is  with 
the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand 
years  as  one  day."  In  things  of  the  day  He 
has  in  view  the  thousand  years ;  the  thousand 
years  being  the  full  maturing  of  the  designs 
that  moulded  the  little  day.  "Where  is  the 
promise  of  His  presence  ?  "  Think  upon  the 
scale  of  a  thousand  years. 

But  in  the  chapter  before  us  the  mocker's 
scorn  primarily  concerns  the  heedlessness  of 
God  in  the  face  of  human  sin.  They  are  happy 
and  untroubled  in  their  lust !  The  jeer  is  this, 
that  God  is  heedless  of  sin  or  virtue,  and  that 
there  are  no  signs  of  discriminating  judgment 
between  the  open  sinner  and  the  professed 
saint.  Is  God  heedless  about  sin  ?  "  "Where 
is  the  promise  of  His  presence  ? "  Are  there 
any  signs  of  His  whereabouts  ?  Let  us  ask 
ourselves  this  searching  question — how  do 
things  trend  ?  Is  God  heedless  concerning  sin  ? 
To  what  tribunal  can  we  make  our  appeal? 
We  can  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  the  purest 
instincts.  We  can  appeal  to  the  witness  of 
personal  experience.  We  can  appeal  to  the 
proclamation  of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  And 
what  is  their  united  teaching  ?     It  is  this — that 


ai6    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OE  PETEB 

there  is  nothing  more  sure  than  "  the  ever- 
lasting burnings."  I  do  not  refer  to  some 
remote  and  unseen  hell,  the  appointed  destiny 
of  an  impenitent  race.  I  refer  to  a  present 
conflagration,  the  everlasting  burning,  in  which 
the  sinner  is  even  now  being  inevitably  con- 
sumed. I  say  that  instinct  and  experience 
agree  in  this,  that  sin  has  to  encounter  an 
unavoidable  Nemesis,  and  that  wrong  moves 
on  to  certain  destruction.  Our  proverbial 
lore,  the  findings  and  expressions  of  the  com- 
mon life,  gives  emphatic  utterance  to  the  same 
truth.  "  A  man's  chickens  come  home  to 
roost."  "  The  whirligig  of  time  brings  round 
its  revenges."  "  Sin  doesn't  pay  in  the  long 
run."  What  the  proverb  declares,  our  ex- 
periences confirm.  There  is  not  a  single  sinner 
in  this  town  to-day  who  is  not,  even  now,  in 
*Hhe  devouring  fire,"  "  the  everlasting  burnings." 
You  say  that  some  of  them  seem  very  happy 
in  the  fire!  Yes,  they  do,  but  don't  you  see 
that  their  happiness  is  not  a  disproof,  but  the 
very  proof  of  the  conflagration.  Degradation 
is  penalty.  Loss  of  fine  perception  is  penalty. 
The  destruction  of  the  coronal  powers  is 
penalty.  Is  it  no  sign  of  horrible  judgment 
that  a  man  is  satisfied  with  the  pleasures  of 
the  kitchen,  when  the  oratory  of  his  life  is 
ablaze  ?     This  is  the  plane  of  true  and  cogent 


CHAPTER,  111.  a,  4,  8,  9  317 

reasoning;  manhood  maimed  is  manhood 
penalised.  That  men  are  contented  to  be  as 
pigs  in  the  mire  is  the  clearest  evidence  that 
their  crowns  and  dignities  have  been  burnt 
away.  In  the  early  stages  of  their  sin  men 
are  conscious  of  their  loss,  and  they  busy 
themselves  in  fashioning  counterfeits.  They 
employ  divers  kinds  of  religious  cosmetics. 
They  strive  and  strive  to  "  keep  up  appear- 
ances" even  when  the  internal  treasure  is 
destroyed  !  My  God !  no  judgment  in  the  world  ? 
No  Nemesis  ?  No  fire  ?  Is  not  this  a  most 
awful  judgment,  more  awful  than  any  other, 
that  when  the  very  virtues  of  a  man  are  con- 
sumed away,  he  should  move  about  in  self- 
satisfaction,  wearing  a  hollow  and  painted 
pretence  ?  You  want  to  see  visible  lightning 
appear  and  strike  him!  Our  God  uses  the 
ministry  of  a  more  secret  consumption.  "  Our 
God  is  a  consuming  fire." 

As  it  is  with  individuals  so  it  is  with  peoples. 
Judgment  haunts  the  footsteps  of  the  sinful 
state.  "We  can  trace  the  decline  and  fall  of 
Eome.  We  can  track  it  step  by  step  through 
increased  idleness,  through  demoralising  em- 
ployment, through  heated  sensuality,  through 
the  decline  of  agricultural  pursuits,  through 
the  lapse  of  military  virtue,  on  through  all  to 
Imperial  perdition.     There  are  grave  and  sober- 


318    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

minded  men  who  axe  beginning  to  think  that 
Nemesis  is  revealing  a  visible  hand  in  the 
Russia  of  to-day.  As  for  Britain,  let  her 
remember  that,  whatever  adhesion  may  be 
found  in  material  and  commercial  communion, 
it  is  not  in  these  things  that  she  will  find  the 
cement  of  an  enduring  and  indestructible  empire. 
*' Righteousness  alone  exalteth  a  nation."  In 
men  and  in  peoples  we  may  be  sure  that  our 
sin  will  find  us  out.  All  sin  works  towards 
decline,  insipidity,  impotence,  and  night.  Of 
all  sad  spectacles,  the  saddest  is  the  spectacle 
of  the  candle  smouldering  out  in  an  ill-spent 
life  !  "  Remember  now  thy  Creator  in  the  days 
of  thy  youth,  ere  the  evil  days  come,"  the 
insipid,  burnt-out  days,  "  when  thou  shalt  say, 
I  have  no  pleasure  in  them." 

And  yet,  after  all,  Grod  does  appear  leisurely. 
"Why  does  He  not  hasten  His  goings?  Why 
are  not  sin  and  perdition  more  closely  joined  ? 
Why  does  He  move  at  such  a  leisurely  pace  ? 
Verse  9  Why  is  He  so  slack  ?  Listen.  "  The  Lord  is 
not  slack  concerning  His  jpromise^  as  some  count 
slackness;  but  is  longsuffering  to  you-ivard^ 
not  luishing  that  any  shoidd  perish^  but  that 
all  should  come  to  repentance^  "  Not  slack, 
as  some  count  slackness,"  not  impotent,  not 
indifferent,  not  unwilling  to  perform.  What 
then  ?      "  But  is  longsuffering  toward  you."     It 


CHAPTER  III.   3,  4,  8,  9  319 

is  the  leisnreliness,  not  of  heedlessness,  but  of 
mercy.  Our  God  is  '*  slow  to  wrath  " ;  it  is  a 
slow  fire,  slow  in  order  that  we  may  have 
opportunity  to  repent.  God's  judgment  on  sin 
could  have  been  appallingly  swift  and  final. 
He  might  have  ordained  that  one  revolt  should 
incur  the  paralysis  of  the  will  and  the  ruin  of 
the  life.  And  what  would  have  been  the  effect  ? 
That  we  should  have  moved  in  a  trembling 
terror,  and  though  we  might  have  been  virtuous 
we  should  never  have  been  free.  The  lowest 
motive  would  have  operated  in  the  soul,  and 
the  lowest  motive  can  never  produce  the  highest 
life.  Some  graces  would  never  have  ripened; 
we  might  have  been  pure,  we  could  never  have 
been  genial  and  sweet.  And  so  our  Lord  is 
apparently  ''  slack  " ;  He  is  "  slow  to  wrath  " ; 
and  by  the  very  slowness  He  gives  to  us  a 
gracious  opportunity  for  reflection,  a  chance 
for  the  awaking  of  the  affections,  and  room  for 
the  ministry  of  repentance.  The  far-off 
psalmist  had  discerned  the  secret  of  the  Lord 
when  he  said :  "  Therefore  will  the  Lord  wait 
that  He  may  be  gracious  unto  you"  "  The  Lord 
is  not  slack  ...  as  some  count  slackness ; 
but  is  longsuffering  to  you-ward,  not  wishing 
that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should 
come  to  repentance."  Let  us  give  thanks  at 
the  remembrance  of  God's  leisureliness ! 


320    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETEE 

How  have  I  Thy  Spirit  grieved 

Since  first  with  me  He  strove, 
Obstinately  disbelieved, 

And  trampled  on  Thy  love! 
I  have  sinned  against  the  light ; 

I  have  broke  from  Thy  embrace, 
No,  I  would  not,  when  I  might 

Be  freely  saved  by  grace. 

After  all  that  I  have  done 

To  drive  Thee  from  my  heart ! 
Still  Thou  wilt  not  leave  Thine  own, 

Thou  wilt  not  yet  depart. 
Wilt  not  give  the  sinner  o'er ; 

Ready  art  Thou  now  to  save, 
Bidst  me  come,  as  heretofore, 

That  I  Thy  life  may  have. 


PEEPAEINa  FOR   THE  JUDGMENT 

2  Peter  iii.  10-14 

But  the  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief ;  in  the 
which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and 
the  elements  shall  he  dissolved  with  fervent  heat,  and  the 
earth  arud  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  he  burned  up. 
Seeing  that  these  things  are  thus  all  to  be  dissolved,  what 
manner  of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy  living  and 
godliness,  looking  for  and  earnestly  desiring  the  coming  of 
the  day  of  God,  by  reason  of  which  the  heavens  being  on  fire 
shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent 
Jieat  ?  But,  according  to  His  promise,  we  look  for  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness. 
Wherefore,  beloved^  seeing  that  ye  look  for  these  things, 
give  diligence  that  ye  may  be  found  in  peace,  without  spot 
and  blameless  in  His  sight. 

"  Seeing  that  ye  look  for  these  things."  What  verse  14 
things  ?  Let  us  glance  back  at  the  descriptive 
record  of  the  outlook.  "  The  day  of  the  Lord  verse  10 
will  come  as  a  thief;  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall 
pass  away  with  a  great  noise^  and  the  elements 
shall  be  dissolved  with  fervent  heatj  and  the  earth 
and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up.^^ 
Here  is  an  apostle  vividly  anticipating  an 
awful  day  of  judgment.  In  that  final  judgment 
righteousness  is  to  be  triumphantly  vindicated, 

321  21 


322    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

and  iniquity  is  to  be  irrevocably  overwhelmed. 
The  coming  of  the  day  is  sure  ;  the  time  of  its 
dawning  is  uncertain.  It  will  assuredly  come, 
but  it  will  come  as  a  thief!  The  affairs  of  all 
men  are  moving  forward  to  consummation  and 
crisis.  There  are  details  in  the  apostle's  out- 
look, the  mere  drapery  of  the  expectation, 
which  I  do  not  profess  to  understand,  and  which 
I  shall  make  no  attempt  to  explain.  But  alto- 
gether apart  from  the  mysterious  vestures  in 
which  the  judgment  is  clothed,  there  are  three 
outstanding  characteristics  of  this  stupendous 
crisis  in  the  history  of  the  soul.  The  antici- 
pated judgment  is  to  be  a  time  of  dissolution. 
*'  The  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great 
noise,  and  the  elements  shall  be  dissolved  with 
a  fervent  heat,  and  the  earth  and  the  works  that 
are  therein  shall  be  burned  up."  With  the 
material  details  in  this  description  I  am  not 
now  concerned.  It  is  sufEcient  for  me  to  receive 
this  cardinal  impression :  that  the  judgment  is 
to  be  a  season  of  convulsion,  of  upheaval,  of 
exposure  of  foundations,  of  the  dissolution  and 
exhibition  of  the  component  parts  of  things. 
In  that  day  it  is  to  be  revealed  of  what  ele- 
mentary substance  things  and  characters  are 
made.  And,  secondly,  the  anticipated  judgment 
is  to  be  a  time  of  discrimination.  This  out- 
standing event  is  to  mark  not  merely  a  culmina- 


CHAPTER  III.   10-14  323 

tion,  but  a  crisis.  Things  are  to  be  analysed 
and  tested,  and  judged  by  the  pattern  in  the 
mount,  and  there  is  to  be  a  separation  of  part 
from  part,  of  character  from  character,  of  the 
healthy  from  the  corrupt.  "  The  wicked  shall 
not  stand  in  the  judgment."  And,  thirdly,  it  is 
to  be  a  time  of  transformation.  Out  of  the  dis- 
solution and  discrimination  is  to  arise  a  changed 
world.  "  According  to  His  promise,  we  look  for  Verse  13 
new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  ivherein  divelleth 
righteousness  J  ^  Out  of  the  crisis  is  to  be  born 
a  new  morning,  with  new  light  and  new  atmo- 
sphere, and  a  new  home,  and  a  new  spirit 
pervading  all  things.  Such  are  the  pre-eminent 
characteristics  of  this  overwhelming  event  in 
which  every  earthly  life  is  to  culminate  in  the 
judgment  presence  of  God. 

And  now  with  this  foreground  of  severe  and 
sanctified  expectancy,  the  apostle  proclaims  the 
following  challenge  :  "  Seeing  that  these  things  are  Verse  11 
thus  all  to  he  dissolved,  what  manner  of  persons 
ought  ye  to  heV^  How  ought  men  to  live  in  the 
face  of  a  hereafter  and  a  sure  and  awe-inspiring 
judgment  ?  "With  that  towering  possibility  con- 
fronting us,  which  to  the  apostle  was  a  great 
and  solemn  certainty,  with  what  kind  of 
ambition  ought  we  to  direct  and  control  our 
days  ?  Let  us  mark  the  coolness  and  sanity 
of  the  apostle's  reply.    For  there  is   nothing 


324    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

heated  in  his  speech,  nothing  feverish,  nothing 
sensational  and  fanatical.  He  does  not  tremble 
in  paralysing  fear ;  he  does  not  maim  his  life  by 
ascetical  severities.  Looking  upon  this  super- 
lative event,  his  life  is  cool  and  calm,  full-toned 
Verse  14  and  healthy.  "  Seeing  that  ye  look  for  these  things^ 
give  diligence  that  ye  may  be  found  in  peace,  with- 
out spot  and  Uameless  in  His  sights  That  is  not 
counsel  for  men  in  their  decrepitude,  when  their 
evening  time  is  come,  and  their  sun  is  in  the 
west,  and  the  shout  and  struggle  are  over,  and 
the  fight  and  feast  are  done ;  it  is  counsel  for 
life  in  its  morning  and  its  pride,  counsel  which 
seeks  the  creation  of  a  rich  and  consecrated 
character,  full-blooded  and  effective  all  along 
the  changing  way.  If  there  be  a  judgment,  as 
there  will  be,  if  there  be  a  morrow  of  crisis,  as 
there  surely  will,  then  in  these  robes  we  may 
meet  it  with  eager  and  fearless  face ;  "  In  peace, 
without  spot  and  blameless  in  His  sight." 

Now  let  us  look  a  little  more  closely  at  those 
features  of  the  character  which  will  stand 
Verse  14  triumphant  in  the  judgment.  "  Found  in  peace^ 
Let  us  once  again  rid  ourselves  of  the  common 
interpretation  of  peace.  In  the  ordinary  mind 
peace  is  synonymous  with  quietness  and  rest. 
We  are  walking  up  Ludgate  Hill  at  noon,  and 
we  are  jostled  by  the  hurrying  and  perspiring 
crowd,  and  we  turn  from  the  hurrying  multitudes 


CHAPTER  III.   10-14  325 

into  the  cool  quietness  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 
and  we  are  tempted  to  say  to  ourselves,  How 
peaceful  it  is !  Or  we  go  into  some  little  village 
church,  hoary  with  the  passage  of  many  years, 
and  with  no  sound  disturbing  the  stillness 
except  the  occasional  song  of  a  bird  which 
steals  tenderly  through  the  open  window,  and 
again  we  use  the  pregnant  word,  How  peaceful ! 
Or  we  go  into  the  chamber  of  the  dead,  and 
we  look  at  the  body  with  the  wrinkles  wiped 
out,  and  the  once-while  weary  limbs  lying  in 
undisturbed  rest,  and  again  we  say.  How  peaceful 
it  is !  But  these  are  not  the  symbols  of  Christian 
peace,  however  pertinently  they  may  express 
the  secret  of  stillness.  Peace  is  not  stillness, 
but  a  certain  kind  of  movement.  It  is  move- 
ment without  friction :  cog  works  into  cog  with 
perfect  and  noiseless  harmony :  everything 
moves  without  jar,  and  there  is  no  grit  in  the 
wheels.  Peace  is  not  the  presence  of  noise,  but 
the  absence  of  discord.  When  we  dig  away  to 
the  very  roots  of  the  word  we  find  its  primary 
content  is  "  perfect  joining."  Nothing  works 
out  of  its  place.  Everything  moves  in  every- 
thing else  with  delightful  confluence.  And 
this  is  peace,  and  therefore  peace  is  harmony ; 
it  is  the  absence  of  the  rebel,  the  extinction  of 
strife.  And  so  if  there  is  to  be  peace  in  my 
life,  all  the  powers  in  my  life  must  co-operate 


326    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

without   friction   and  move   in   harmony  under 
the  supreme  control  of  the    sovereign   will   of 
God.     Here  is  a  musical  instrument,  the  organ. 
It  is  a  very  complex  instrument,  containing  I 
know  not  how  many  hundred  parts.     And  there 
is  a  movement  in  the  organ  known  as  ciphering. 
And  what  is  ciphering  ?     It  is  the  sounding  of 
an  organ-pipe,  in  consequence  of  some  derange- 
ment or   maladjustment,    independently   of   the 
action   of   the   player.     Harmony  is   dependent 
upon  the  obedience  of  each  note  to  the  organist's 
authority.     If  any  note  breaks  out  of  its  own 
accord,  the  harmony  is  broken,  and  we  are  the 
victims  of  jarring   discord.      Now  every  man's 
individuality   is   like   a   complex   organ.      How 
manifold  and  varied  are  the  component  parts  ! 
And  the  harmony  of  the  individual  is  dependent 
upon  the  co-operation  of  all  his  powers.     And 
yet  how  frequently  the  harmony  of  the  life  is 
broken   by   the    ciphering    of    a    part  !     Some 
faculty   is  rebellious,    and    breaks    away  from 
the  control  of  the  will.     How  often  the  player 
upon  the  instrument  has  to  confess,  "  I  cannot 
control    my   temper ! "    or,   ''  I    cannot    control 
my   imagination ! "    or,    "  I   cannot   control  my 
passions  !  "     But  there  is  this  distinction  between 
ourselves   and    the    musical    instrument.      The 
organist  at  the  keyboard   has   no  control   over 
the  ciphering;    it   is   independent   of  him,  and 


CHAPTER  III.   10-14  327 

works   entirely   away   from    his    resources   and 
his  will.     But  the  individual   has   resources   at 
his     disposal,    offered     to    him     by    his    Lord, 
resources  found  in  the  dynamics  of  grace,  by 
which  every  faculty    can   be    subjected   to    the 
holy   purpose    of   our  Lord.     It   is  possible  for 
the  individual  to  be  "  found  in  peace,"  and  for 
"  all  that  is  within  me  "  to  bless  God's  holy  name. 
Let  us  investigate  a  little  more  in  detail  this 
manifold  organ  of  the  individual    self.      There 
are  my  powers  of  body.     These  are  to  be  "  found 
in  peace."     They  are  to  work  in  harmony  with 
one    another,   and    under    the    control    of    the 
sovereign  will  of  God,  and  they  are  to  move  as 
common  subjects  of  the  King.     "  Present  your 
bodies."      "We   must   bring   our  basal   energies 
to    the    Lord,   and    have    these    bodily    forces 
subdued     to    the    higher    harmonies,    like    the 
profound  notes  of  the  organ  that  give  body  and 
fulness   to   its   tender   and    sweetening   strains. 
"  Let  the  ape  and  tiger  die,"  sings  Tennyson. 
But  there   is   a   better   way.      And   the    better 
way  is  to  transform  them.     I  do  not  want  my 
passions  annihilating;  I  want  them  turning  to 
useful  force.     I  want  the  sword  changed   into 
a   ploughshare,    and   the  spear  into  a  pruning- 
hook,    and    I    want    the     beast     at    the     base 
harnessed  to  the  imperial  and  holy  purpose  of 
God.     If  a  man  consecrates  "  the  ape  and  tiger  " 


328    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

to  the  Lord,  and  these  are  brought  into 
obedience  under  the  Lord's  control,  the  life 
will  receive  a  tremendous  driving-power,  and 
every  holy  ambition  will  be  pursued  with  almost 
violent  zest.  "I  keep  my  body  under,"  says 
the  Apostle  Paul.  "  I  allow  no  ciphering  !  " 
Every  bodily  desire  is  held  in  the  leash,  and 
all  work  together,  and  are  ''found  in  peace." 

There  are  my  powers  of  mind.  We  speak  of 
wandering  thoughts,  thoughts  that  are  rebellious 
to  the  general  dominion,  and  that  steal  away 
to  forbidden  fields.  We  have  unrestrained 
imaginations,  fancies  that  go  off  on  their  own 
charges  and  ask  no  question  concerning  the 
lands  in  which  they  roam.  "  Bring  every 
thought  into  captivity  to  Christ."  It  is  possible 
for  all  our  mental  powers  to  be  "  found  in 
peace."  We  have  more  power  over  our 
thoughts  than  we  frequently  conceive.  There 
is  much  reserve  of  authority  which  has  not 
yet  been  exercised.  We  can  refuse  a  thought 
expression,  and  that  refusal  enormously 
strengthens  our  seK-control.  ''Give  no  unpro- 
portioned  thought  its  act."  Make  every 
thought  bow  down  to  Jesus  before  you  give 
it  utterance !  But  if  we  still  find  that  our 
sovereignty  is  ineffective  we  can  refer  our 
weakness  to  the  Spirit.  We  can  take  these 
rebel  thoughts    and    imaginings,   and   we    can 


CHAPTER  m.  10-14  829 

say  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  "These  thoughts,  my 
great  Companion,  are  beyond  me  !  I  have  no 
power  to  deal  with  them !  I  hand  them  over 
to  thee  ! "  And  marvellous  is  the  efficacy  of 
the  reference  !  Marvellous  is  the  re-arranging 
of  this  disordered  world,  and  the  subjection  of 
the  mental  chaos  into  harmony  and  peace. 

And  there  are  my  jpowers  of  soul.  There  are 
the  superlative  senses  in  my  life.  These  also 
must  be  "  found  in  peace."  Our  sense  of  right 
must  not  be  allowed  to  join  the  rebel  forces  of 
mere  expediency.  Our  sense  of  the  sublime 
must  not  be  permitted  to  career  after  degrading 
superstitions.  Our  highest  powers  must  pay 
obeisance  in  the  holy  place,  and  acknowledge 
in  awed  communion  the  holiness  of  the  Lord. 
All  this  is  peace,  for  this  is  harmony,  the 
powers  of  body  and  of  mind  and  of  soul  all 
co-operating  in  producing  the  music  of  the 
spheres,  the  melody  which  is  well-pleasing  unto 
God.  And  this  is  the  character  with  which 
one  can  confidently  meet  the  day  of  judgment. 
"Give  diligence  that  ye  may  be  found  in 
peace." 

Now  turn  to  the  second  of  the  characteristics 
of     the    triumphant    life:    '-''found  .  .  .  without  yerse  u 
spoty     Let    us    mark    the    significance   of    the 
word.     It    describes    a    life    distressed    by    no 
infirmity   and   corrupted   by  no   disease.     It  is 


330    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

neither  lame  nor  defiled.     Our  God  desires  tlie 
entire  life,  and  He  resents  a  defective  offering. 
He  wants  "  a  lamb  witout  spot."     None  of  our 
powers  are  to  be  made  infirm  by  disease,  and 
none  are  to  be  rendered  diseased  by  abuse.     Is 
not    tbis     a    sane     and     reasonable     teaching? 
Surely   this   man's   mind   is    in   no    degree   im- 
paired by  the  spectacle  of   coming  judgment! 
His    ambition    is    to    be    diligent— to    present 
himself  healthy,  with  every  part  of   his  being 
in  working  order.     We  may  vary  in  the  quality 
of    our    endowments,    but    there    need    be    no 
variety   in  their   purity.     One   man   may  have 
ten  talents,  and  another  man  only  one,  but  in 
both  instances  the  life  can  be  perfectly  clean. 
One   man's   endowment   may   be   as   that   of   a 
cathedral  organ,  while  another  may  be  common- 
place as  an  ordinary  harmonium,  but  both  can 
be  kept   in   perfect   purity,  no  part  corrupted, 
and  every  part  sounding  out  the  obedient  note. 
And  the  third  characteristic  of  the  triumphant 
character  is  described  in  the  succeeding  phrase, 
Yerseu'' without  blame:'     Is  that  possible?     I  may  get 
my   body   under,   and  I   may   succeed,   by   the 
grace  of  God,  in  freeing  every  part  of  my  being 
from  infirmity  and  disease,  but  is  it  within  the 
bounds  of   possibiUty  that  I  can  stand  in  the 
judgment   "without   blame"?     I  think   of   my 
life.     I  retrace  its  steps.     I  mark  its  deliberate 


CHAPTER  III.   10-14  331 

rebellions,  its  sins  of  selfishness  and  desire,  its 
injustices   in   speech   and   deed,   its   disloyalties 
and  secret  treacheries.     How   can   such   a   life 
ever  be  found  "without  blame"?     And  yet  it 
is  gloriously  possible.     It  is  the  very  evangel  of 
grace  that,  on  the  day  of  judgment,  men  whose 
lives  were   once   defiled   can   stand   before   the 
Almighty,   and   no   word   of    blame   or  rebuke 
shall  fall  upon  their  ears.     They  shall  come  to 
judgment,  but  there  shall  be  no  condemnation. 
"There  is  therefore   now  no   condemnation  to 
them    that    are    in    Christ    Jesus."      I    saw    a 
man    a    little    while    ago    with    the    marks    of 
his  old  rebellion   still   seated  in  his   face;  but 
behind  that   disfigured   countenance  there  was 
the  illuminating  presence  of  the  light  of  life, 
and  that    man    shall    stand   in   the    judgment 
"without  blame."     But  this  can  only  be  possible 
when  the    life    is    lost   "in    Christ."     We   are 
regarded  and  judged  as  being  in  Him.     What 
He  is  we  are,  for  as  He  is  we   shall  one  day 
assuredly  become.     "  Our  life  is  hid  with  Christ." 
It  may  be  only  poor  as  yet,  and  the  footprints 
of  the  beast  may  be  scarcely  erased  from  our 
life,  but  one  day  we   are  to  be  manifested  in 
His  beauty.     It  fills  me  with  amazement  that  I, 
once   a   vagrant,   and   bearing   about  with   me 
signs  of  my  degeneracy,  shall  one  day  "walk 
in   His    likeness."     Yes,    and    those    old   days, 


332    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

those  pitiably  blighted  days,  are  never  to  be 
named  by  Him  in  whose  holy  presence  we  are 
all  to  stand.  "I  will  remember  them  against 
thee  no  more  for  ever." 

Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee. 

Here,  then,  is  a  great  ambition — that  on  the 
awful  day  of  unveiling  we  may  thus  be  '^  found 
in  peace,  without  spot,  and  blameless."  And 
see  with  what  intensity  this  apostolic  ambition 
is  to  be  pursued.     The  apostle  uses  three  very 

Verse  14  strenuous  figures  of  speech.  "5e  diligent.''  It 
is  again  the  favourite  image  of  the  business 
man.  We  are  to  pursue  the  riches  of  this 
finished  character  with  all  the  ardour  of  an 
expert  man  of  affairs.  We  are  to  be  inventive 
and  earnest  and  prompt,  buying  up  every  oppor- 
tunity   for    moral    and    spiritual    enrichment. 

Verse  17  "beware .^"  And  secondly  we  are  to  have  all 
the  vigilance  of  a  custodian.  Having  got  a 
pearl,  I  am  to  guard  it  as  one  of  the  crown 
jewels.  "Hold  fast  that  which  thou  hast;  let 
no  man  take  thy  crown."  And  thirdly,  we 
are  to  "6e  stedfasV  We  are  to  manifest  the 
unshakeable  and  unshrinkable  loyalty  of  a 
soldier  at  the  post  of  duty.  In  seeking  this 
glorified  character  we  are  to  stand  faithful  at 
our  post,  "  and  having  done  all,  to  stand."  Go 
forward  to   the    judgment,   seeking  peace   and 


CHAPTEE  III.  10-14  333 

spotlessness  and  blamelessness  with,  all  the 
diligence  of  a  business  man,  with  all  the  vigil- 
ance of  a  watchman,  and  with  all  the  daring 
obedience  of  a  soldier  on  tbe  field  of  battle. 

A  life  like  that,  hiding  in  Christ  and  always 
cherishing  the  Father's  business,  need  fear 
nothing  that  the  morrow  may  bring.  For  that 
kind  of  life  the  judgment  will  have  no  terrors. 
If  we  live  toward  God  we  shall  not  fear  to  see 
Him.  Nay,  here  is  tbe  apostle  bold  enough  to 
use  these  very  daring  and  exuberant  words, 
"earnestly  desiring  the  coming  of  that  day." 
It  is  the  very  music  of  this  Epistle.  "  That 
day!"  "At  that  day!"  I  say  it  is  music  to 
the  apostle,  as  indeed  it  was  music  to  the  Apostle 
Paul,  who  gloried  in  "the  crown  of  righteous- 
ness which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall 
give  me  at  that  day,  and  not  unto  me  only,  but 
unto  all  them  also  that  love  His  appearing." 


GEOWING  IN  GRACE 

2  Peter  iii.  18 

Grow  in   the  grace  and  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

If  these  words,  and  indeed  the  nature  and 
contents  of  all  this  wonderful  chapter,  were 
not  penned  by  Simon  Peter,  they  were  com- 
posed by  his  "double"  in  the  spirit.  Their 
hearts  are  fashioned  alike.  The  writer  of  this 
counsel  has  had  Simon  Peter's  experience,  and 
he  is  possessed  by  Simon  Peter's  penitence,  and 
he  shares  Simon  Peter's  trembling  confidence 
and  hope.  If  some  firmly  authenticated  and 
altogether  non-suspicious  letter  of  the  great 
apostle  were  to  fall  into  my  hands,  this  is  the 
kind  of  matter,  and  this  the  manner,  which  I 
should  expect  in  its  intense  and  impetuous 
pages.  I  should  expect  much  about  pitfalls 
and  snares,  much  about  finely  attired  and  spe- 
cious seductions,  much  about  secret  treachery, 
cowardly  denial,  and  open  revolt.  I  should 
expect  strong  and  jubilant  evangels,  proclaim- 
ing  the  capacity  of  frail  and   fragile   man  to 

334 


CHAPTER  III.   18  335 

become  the  loyal  and  bosom  friend  of  God 
Almighty.  I  should  expect  glorious  vistas  of 
distant  possibility,  bright  and  alluring,  the 
ultimate  bourn  of  human  life  in  fellowship 
with  the  Divine.  All  these  I  should  expect 
from  the  hands  and  lips  and  heart  of  this  great 
apostle — once  impulsive,  and  cowardly,  and  dis- 
loyal, but  now  recovered,  emboldened,  glorified 
in  the  recreating  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
And  they  are  all  here,  messages  full  of  heart- 
ening, serious  with  warning,  kindling  with 
inspiration,  and  all  of  them  culminating  in  this 
cheery  word  of  sanctified  Christian  optimism, 
*'  Grow  in  the  grace  and  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  Yes,  it  is  Simon 
Peter,  or  his  "  double,"  the  man  who  had  the 
two-fold  experience  of  weeping  bitterly  in  the 
cold  twilight  of  the  betrayal  morning,  and  of 
gazing,  with  hungry,  loving  eagerness  into  the 
reconciled  countenance  of  the  risen  Lord. 

Well,  here  in  my  text  there  is  suggested  a 
marvellous  dignity,  the  supreme  prerogative 
and  endowment  of  human-kind,  our  capacity 
to  receive  the  Divine.  "  Grow  in  the  grace  and 
knoivledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  ChristJ^ 
Let  us  humanise  it.  To  grow  in  a  thing  im- 
plies that  I  have  the  power  to  acquire  it. 
Acquisition  implies  susceptibility,  power  of  re- 
ception.    When   a   man   counsels   me  to  grow, 


836    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

he  suggests  that  I  am  in  possession  of  a  germ- 
inal aptitude,  in  the  development  of  which  the 
growth  consists.  "  Grow  in  Art,  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  Masters  of  Art ! "  Such 
counsel  implies  that  I  possess  initial  artistic 
instincts,  a  certain  elementary  sensitiveness, 
which  will  respond  to  the  revelations  of  each 
succeeding  stage  in  the  unfolding  apocalypse 
of  form  and  colour.  If  I  am  to  grow  in  the 
grace  and  knowledge  of  Turner  I  must  funda- 
mentally possess  the  primal  instincts  of  which 
the  ultimate  Turner  is  made.  Growth  implies 
a  germ,  an  initial  bias  or  tendency,  an  original 
aptitude  or  gift.  And  if  I  am  to  "  grow  in  the 
grace  and  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,"  the  con- 
soling and  inspiring  suggestion  is  this,  that  I 
am  not  passive  and  ungifted  like  a  splint  from 
i  a  planet,  or  a  mineral  in  the  mine,  but  that  to 
me  has  been  given  an  original  capability,  an 
innate  possibility  of  holding  commerce  with  the 
infinite  God.     "We  are  fragments  of  Divinity ! 

Here  then,  I  start  with  this  glorious  and 
marvellous  implication,  that  the  children  of  men 
have  the  power  to  apprehend  and  to  growingly 
appropriate  the  "things"  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Let  us  look  at  the  capacity.  "  Grow  in  graced 
We  have  the  capacity  to  receive  the  Divine 
energy,  to  receive  it  more  and  more ;  to  so  grow 
in  the  appropriation  of  it  that  we  are   at  last 


CHAPTEE  III.   18  337 

"  filled  with  the  fulness  of  God."  For  Grace  is 
an  energy;  it  is  the  Divine  energy;  it  is  the 
energy  of  the  Divine  affection  rolling  abundantly 
to  the  shores  of  human  need.  Oh,  it  is  this, 
and  much  more  than  this !  Its  manifold  wealth 
eludes  the  span  of  human  speed,  and  refuses  to 
be  defined.  Grace  is  indefinable.  Dr.  Dale, 
with  his  strong  hands  and  yet  most  exquisite 
touch,  endeavoured  to  express  its  secret  in  a 
pregnant  phrase,  but  he  laid  down  his  pen  in 
despair.  "  Grace,"  he  says,  "  is  love  which 
passes  beyond  all  claims  to  love.  It  is  love 
which,  after  fulfilling  the  obligations  imposed 
by  law,  has  an  unexhausted  wealth  of  kindness." 
Yes,  it  is  all  that ;  but  when  we  have  said  all 
that,  the  half  hath  not  been  told.  It  reminds 
me  of  an  experience  in  my  life  a  little  while 
ago.  Some  minister  of  the  Cross,  toiling  in 
great  loneliness,  among  a  scattered  and  primitive 
people,  and  on  the  very  fringe  of  dark  primeval 
forests,  sent  me  a  little  sample  of  his  vast 
and  wealthy  environment.  He  sent  it  in  an 
envelope.  It  was  a  bright  and  gaily-coloured 
wing  of  a  native  bird.  The  colaur  and  life 
of  trackless  leagues  sampled  within  the  con- 
fines of  an  envelope !  And  when  we  have 
made  a  compact  little  phrase  to  enshrine  the 
secret  of  grace,  I  feel  that,  however  fair  and 
radiant  it  may  be,  we  have  only  got  a  wing 

22 


338    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

of  a  native  bird,  and  bewildering  stretches  of 
wealth  are  untouched  and  unrevealed.  No,  we 
cannot  define  it.  Who  can  define  an  Alp  ?  We 
may  describe  the  varying  aspects  of  a  mountain, 
some  of  its  ever-changing  moods  ;  we  can  add 
feature  to  feature,  characteristic  to  characteristic, 
but  we  can  never  say  that  we  have  exhausted 
the  significance  of  its  wealthy  face.  And  so  it 
is  with  grace.  We  may  have  glimpses  of  its 
features  and  varying  moods.  Even  when  we  can- 
not construe  its'ultimate  secret,  we  may  describe 
when  we  cannot  define.  Now  that  is  just  what 
the  New  Testament  permits  us  to  do.  It  gives 
us  a  glimpse  here,  and  a  glimpse  there,  and  we 
can  put  bit  to  bit,  feature  to  feature,  until  we 
are  overwhelmed  with  the  glory  of  the  revelation 
of  God's  redeeming  grace  !  Let  us  put  them 
together.  Grace  is  energy.  Grace  is  love- 
energy.  Grace  is  a  redeeming  love-energy. 
Grace  is  a  redeeming  love-energy  ministering  to 
the  unlovely,  and  endowing  the  unlovely  with 
its  own  loveliness.  Wherever  I  see  grace  at 
work  in  the  Christian  Scriptures  it  is  ever  a 
minister  of  purity,  and  joy,  and  song  and  peace. 
Cast  your  eyes  over  these !  ''  Where  sin 
abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound."  Like 
as  you  have  seen  the  shore  littered  with  filth 
and  refuse,  and  the  infinite  deep  has  rolled  in, 
and  gathered  up  the  uncleanness  into   its  own 


CHAPTER  III.   18  339 

purifying  flood  !  "  We  liave  good  hope  through 
grace."  Like  as  the  light  in  the  lighthouse 
burns  clear  and  steadly  through  the  night, 
because  of  the  unfailing  and  carefully  adminis- 
tered supplies  of  oil,  so  the  light  of  a  cheery 
optimism  burns  strong  and  calmly  in  the  night 
of  life,  because  of  the  unfailing  supplies  of 
grace !  "  Singing  with  grace  in  your  hearts 
unto  the  Lord."  Didn't  I  say  that  grace  is  the 
mother  of  song  ?  Grace  makes  a  light  and 
nimble  atmosphere  ;  the  soul  becomes  buoyant, 
and  breaks  into  music  as  instinctively  as  the 
bird  sings  in  the  soft  airs  of  the  dawn. 
All  this  is  the  work  of  the  love-energy 
of  the  Eternal  God,  and  the  evangel  is  this, 
that  to  you  and  me  is  given  the  capacity  to 
receive  it,  to  grow  in  it,  to  appropriate  it  more 
and  more,  to  more  and  more  become  its  home. 
"  He  giveth  grace  for  grace,"  until  every  tissue 
and  function  in  body,  mind,  and  soul  are  saturated 
and  sanctified  in  its  redeeming  ministry.  "  Grow 
in  grace  ! " 

"  And  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ r  Then  we  have  not  only  capacity 
to  receive  the  Divine  energy,  but  capacity  to 
perceive  the  Divine  character.  Gifts  of  recep- 
tion are  succeeded  by  gifts  of  perception.  We 
are  to  "  grow  in  knowledge  "  too.  I  heard  a 
great  Bible  student  say  the  other  day — he  is  a 


340    THE   SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

man  of  most  delicate  spiritual  insight,  and  has 
worked  and  walked  with  his  Lord  for  many 
years — and  he  was  speaking  among  a  few  familiar 
friends,  and  he  said,  "I  feel  as  if  I  have  only 
investigated  a  small  garden-bed,  and  there's  a 
continent  still  before  me ! "  Have  we  not  all 
shared  his  feelings  ?  Is  there  a  minister  worth 
his  salt  who,  as  his  experience  broadens  and 
deepens,  does  not  realise  that  he  has  only 
touched  the  hem  of  his  Master's  garment,  and  that 
the  more  glorious  intimacy  is  all  before  him  ? 
Yes,  so  far  as  the  Lord  Jesus  is  concerned 
we  have  all  pottered  about  a  little  garden-bed, 
with  a  continent  awaiting  us.  But  do  not 
let  us  be  despondent  or  afraid.  "We  must  not 
measure  ourselves  by  the  size  of  the  garden-bed, 
but  by  the  possibilities  of  the  continent.  "We 
are  not  scaled  to  the  size  of  the  garden-bed  ;  we 
are  scaled  and  endowed  to  the  ultimate  demands 
of  the  continent.  "  Now  I  know  in  part,  but 
then  shall  I  know  even  as  also  I  am  known ! " 
The  continent  is  to  be  as  familiar  to  us 
as  the  garden-bed.  We  can  "  grow  ...  in  the 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ."  Does  not  that  sound  continental,  that 
great,  all-comprehensive  name — Lord — Saviour 
— Jesus— Christ  ?  Into  the  secrets,  the  deep, 
bright  mysteries  of  that  most  wonderful  name 
we  are  to  enter,  little  by  little,  and  we  are  to 


CHAPTER  III.   18  341 

apprehend  and  appreciate  things  which  have 
been  "  hidden  from  the  foundations  of  the 
world."  Our  capacity  may  at  present  be  infan- 
tile, but  infantile  capacity  is  real,  and  the 
undeveloped  germ  carries  in  its  heart  the 
promise  and  power  of  its  own  prime.  Caliban 
may  be  dark  and  imprisoned  in  contrast  with 
the  enlightened  and  appreciative  Paul,  but 
Caliban  is  a  Paul  in  embryo,  and  even  Paul 
himself,  while  he  walked  the  ways  of  time,  had 
but  the  comprehension  of  a  babe  in  comparison 
with  many  a  poor  peasant  who  had  "left  his 
native  lea  "  and  had  awakened  amid  the  unveiled 
secrets  of  the  Eternal  day.  Yes,  we  can  grow ; 
it  is  our  dignity  and  our  privilege  to  grow ;  we 
can  grow  "in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  "Now  are  we  the  sons 
of  God,"  aye,  even  now!  And  to  what  shall 
we  grow  ?  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall  be."  "What  then  ?  "  We  know  that  when 
He  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we 
shall  see  Him  as  He  is."  For  what  superlative 
glories  we  are  made !  Let  us  even  now  wear 
our  crowns  as  kings  and  queens. 

How,  then,  can  we  increase  our  capacity  for 
God?  How  may  we  best  "grow  in  grace  and 
knowledge,"  in  the  two-fold  gifts  of  reception 
and  perception  ?  I  only  know  three  ways ;  but 
I  think  they  are  all-i»clusive,  and  they  would 


342    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER 

bring  a  man  at  length  into  "  the  measure  of  the 
fulness  of  the  stature  of  Christ."  You  will  not 
be  surprised  when  I  mention,  as  the  first  means 
of  growth,  the  ministry  of  fervent  prayer.  That 
is  an  old  counsel,  almost  threadbare  by  incessant 
reiteration,  but  we  can  no  more  ignore  it  than 
we  can  ignore  the  fresh  air  when  we  are 
reckoning  up  the  conditions  of  physical  health. 
When  I  speak  of  prayer  I  am  thinking  of  a 
very  active  and  businesslike  thing.  I  think  of 
something  far  more  than  speech ;  it  is  commerce 
with  the  Infinite.  It  is  the  sending  out  of 
aspiration,  Hke  the  ascending  angels  in  the 
patriarch's  dream  ;  it  is  the  reception  of  inspira- 
tion, like  the  descending  angels  that  brought  to 
the  weary  pilgrim  the  life  and  light  of  God. 
When  we  pray,  we  must  drink  in,  and  drink 
deeply,  quietly,  consciously,  deliberately,  the  very 
love-energy  of  the  Eternal  God.  Marvellous 
is  the  ministry  of  that  inspired  and  inspiring 
grace !  Shall  I  tell  you  how  I  heard  one  man 
speak  of  another  man  a  little  while  ago  ? 
The  one  of  whom  he  spake  had  appeared  weary 
and  worn,  and  dark,  tired  lines  were  pencilled 
here  and  there  upon  his  face.  And  this  weary 
man  knelt  and  prayed  !  "  And,"  said  my  friend, 
"  when  he  rose  from  his  knees,  I  saw  for  the 
first  time  the  significance  of  Pentecost !  The 
weariness  had  gone !     The  dark  care-lines  were 


CHAPTER  III.   18  343 

wiped  out!  His  face  was  all  aglow  with  a 
renewed  flame !  And  I  verily  believe  that  if 
my  own  heart  had  been  pure  enough  I  should 
have  seen  a  radiant  nimbus  enveloping  his 
exalted  head !  "  "What  had  the  weary  man  been 
doing  on  his  knees  ?  He  had  been  growing  in 
grace,  and  therefore  in  the  knowledge  of  his 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

And  the  second  means  of  growth  is  found 
in  the  ministry  of  honourable  and  consecrated 
labour.  If  we  could  not  "  grow  in  grace  and 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ "  while  we 
earn  our  daily  bread,  life  would  be  very  largely 
a  dark  and  fruitless  waste.  But  if  the  hours  of 
labour  afford  a  congenial  season  for  spiritual 
growth,  then  life  presents  a  vast  and  glorious 
opportunity.  It  was  while  the  Man  of  Nazareth 
was  yet  working  at  the  carpenter's  bench  that 
we  are  told  "  He  increased  in  wisdom  and  stature, 
and  in  favour  with  God  and  man."  "  In  favmir  " 
— our  very  present  word  "  grace  "  :  the  love- 
energy  of  the  Eternal  streamed  into  His  soul 
while  He  engaged  in  the  lowly  toil  of  a  humble 
village  craftsman.  The  business  of  the  little 
day  was  so  done  that  at  the  same  time  it  was 
commerce  with  the  Infinite !  Every  business 
transaction  was  so  scrupulously  pure  and 
honourable  as  to  afford  a  dwelling-place  for  the 
Holy  Spirit   of  the  Eternal  God!     While  He 


844    THE  SECOND  EPISTLE   OF  PETER 

earned  His  daily  bread  He  was  drawing  into 
His  hungry  heart  the  very  bread  of  life.  He 
and  His  Father  were  inseparable  partners  in 
•the  making  of  a  household  chair,  or  in  the 
fashioning  of  a  yoke  for  the  ox  of  the  field.  Was 
not  that,  too,  the  restful  boast  of  Stradivari? 

This  is  my  fame — 

When  any  master  holds, 
Ti'wixt  chin  and  hand  a  violin  of  mine, 
He  will  be  glad  that  Stradivari  lived, 
Made  violinp,  and  made  them  of  the  best. 
The  masters  only  know  whose  work  is  good : 
They  will  choose  mine  :  and,  while  God  gives 

them  skill, 
I  give  them  instruments  to  play  upon, 

God  choosing  me  to  help  Him. 

The  man  who  goes  out  to  his  labour  in  the 
morning  in  that  spirit,  must  and  will  grow 
in  grace  and  knowledge,  and  he  will  find  that 
the  common  path  of  duty  is  even  now  "  close 
upon  the  shining  tableland  to  which  our  God 
Himself  is  sun  and  moon.'  ' 

And  the  third  means  of  growth  is  to  be  found 
in  the  ministry  of  unselfish  service.  In  the 
sphere  of  the  spirit,  expenditure  is  ever  the 
condition  of  expansion.  We  get  while  we  give. 
We  grow  while  we  serve.  "  He  that  would  be 
great  among  you  let  him  be  your  minister." 
**  He  giveth  grace  to  the  humble."  Aye,  it  is 
along  that  path  that  we  come  upon  the  crown 


CHAPTER  III.   18  345 

jewels  of  the  King  of  Kings.  "  He  that  loseth 
his  life  shall  find  it."  The  man  who  goes  out 
to  serve  his  brother  shall  meet  his  God,  and 
shall  be  partially  transfigured  into  the  Saviour's 
likeness :  he  shall  pass  into  ever  richer  acqui- 
sitions of  grace,  and  he  shall  be  taken  into  the 
deeper  secrets  of  his  Lord. 


Date  Due 


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